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liU    A    i''w,Ii>iV>Ai   jLJ. 

ITERIOR  DECOR/ui 


JLVJ  A  ^ 


THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 


. 


THE  PRINCIPLES 

OF 

INTERIOR  DECORATION 


THE    MACMILLAN    COMPANY 

KBW  YORK    •    BOSTON  •   CHICAGO  •    DALLAS 
ATLANTA    •    SAN  FRANCISCO 

MACMILLAN  &  CO.,  LIMITED 

LONDON    •    BOMBAY    •    CALCUTTA 
MELBOURNE 

THE  MACMILLAN  CO.  OP  CANADA,  L 

TORONTO 


THE  PRINCIPLES 
OF 

INTERIOR   DECORATION 


BY 

BERNARD  C.  JAKWAY 

UNIVERSITY    EXTENSION    LECTURER    IN    INTERIOR 
DECORATION,  UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 


THE  MACMILLAN  COMPANY 

1925 

All  rights  reserved 


FEINTED  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES  OF  AMERICA 


COPYRIGHT,  1933, 
BT  THE  MACMILLAN  COMPANY. 


Set  up  and  printed.    Published  May, 

Reprinted September,    1922 

December,    1922 

.January,   1924 

March,  1925 


Press  of 

J.  J.  Little  &  Ives  Company 
New  York,  U.  S.  A. 


Art 

Library 

(VK 
auo 


o 


AUTHOR'S  PREFACE 

The  nature  and  the  purpose  of  this  study  are,  I  be- 
lieve, accurately  indicated  by  its  title.  It  is  an  attempt  to 
analyze,  correlate  and  set  forth  as  clearly  as  possible 
the  artistic  principles  that  underlie  sound  work  in  the 
decoration  of  houses.  This  attempt  is  based  upon  the 
conviction  that  in  a  knowledge  of  these  principles,  their 
scientific  basis,  and  the  methods  of  their  application, 
the  beginner  in  this  art  will  find  the  surest  and  easiest 
path  to  reasonably  successful  results  in  practice. 

The  book  is  designed  primarily  to  be  of  interest  to 
the  housewife,  concerned  with  the  attractiveness  of  her 
home;  to  the  worker  in  house  furnishing-  shops,  con- 
cerned with  increasing  the  value  of  his  services  ;  to  the 
teacher,  concerned  with  imparting  compact  and  work- 
able knowledge,  and  to  the  reader  who  desires  a  general 
understanding  of  the  subject.  In  other  words,  it  is 
designed  to  be  of  interest  primarily  to  the  beginner  and 
the  reader  whose  knowledge  of  interior  decoration  is 
limited,  rather  than  to  the  artist  and  the  expert. 

The  artist,  precisely  because  he  is  an  artist,  has 
reached  a  point  where  he  works  intuitively,  without 
conscious  reference  to  the  scientific  substratum  which 
necessarily  underlies  all  his  creative  processes.  He  gets 
the  results  at  which  he  aims,  and  need  not  trouble  with 
reasons.  The  beginner,  however,  possesses  little  or 
none  of  this  power.  He  cannot  with  safety  depend 


vi  Author's  Preface 

wholly  or  even  largely  upon  intuition,  as  multitudes  of 
unlovely  houses  abundantly  witness.  His  choices  must 
be  reasoned  choices,  based  upon  conscious  reference  to 
the  principles  of  decorative  composition  involved  in  his 
problem.  His  only  alternative  is  the  method  of  simple 
experiment — a  method  enormously  wasteful,  in  time, 
in  money,  in  comfort,  and  especially  in  beauty. 

There  have  been  many  attempts  to  formulate  the 
principles  of  interior  decoration,  and  there  will  no 
doubt  be  many  more.  The  final  work  on  any  art  can 
never  be  written,  since  artistic  theory  does  not  precede 
the  practice  of  creative  artists,  but  follows  after.  Of  the 
present  book  I  can  say  truthfully  only  that  it  represents 
a  great  amount  of  hard  work,  now  finished.  With  a 
profound  sense  of  relief  I  pass  the  work  of  judgment 
on  to  the  reader. 

The  ideas  herein  set  forth  have  been  drawn  from 
manifold  and  widely  scattered  sources.  Many  of  them 
have  of  course  been  taken  from  the  common  stock-pot 
of  professional  practice.  A  few,  I  believe,  are  my  own. 
For  the  most  part,  however,  they  have  of  necessity 
resulted,  either  directly  or  through  processes  of  syn- 
thesis, from  the  reading  of  other  men's  works.  Most 
of  this  reading,  extending  through  many  years  and 
covering  many  fields,  has  been  done  without  a  note- 
book. At  this  late  day  it  is  unhappily  impossible  to 
trace  and  credit  these  ideas  to  their  original  sources. 
All  that  I  can  do  now  is  to  make  a  general  acknowl- 
edgment of  indebtedness,  particularly  to  the  works  of 
Ruskin  and  Walter  Crane;  to  the  Grammaire  des  arts 
decoratifs  and  the  Grammaire  historique  des  arts  du 
dessin  of  Ch.  Blanc;  to  Mayeux's  La  composition 


Author's  Preface  vii 

decorative;  Harvard's  L'art  dans  la  maison;  Croce's 
Theory  of  ./Esthetic;  Lipps'  Raum'dsthetik  und  geo- 
metrisch-optische  Tauschungen;  Souriau's  L'esthetique 
de  la  lumiere;  Raymond's  series  of  volumes  on  com- 
parative esthetics;  Valentine's  Introduction  to  the 
Experimental  Psychology  of  Beauty;  Fere's  Pathology 
of  Emotions,  and  to  Chevreul,  Rood,  Von  Bezold, 
Ridgeway  and  Luckiesh  among  the  colorists. 

Grateful  acknowledgment  is  due  to  Mr.  William 
Cusick  of  San  Francisco,  who  twice  read  the  manu- 
script during  the  formative  stages  of  its  preparation, 
and  to  Mr.  Gregg  O'Brien,  who  made  most  of  the 
drawings  essential  to  a  clear  understanding  of  the 
text. 

The  method  of  illustration  is  unusual  in  books  on 
interior  decoration,  and  merits  a  word  of  explanation. 
While  the  suggestive  value  of  photographic  reproduc- 
tions of  good  interiors  is  very  great,  so  that  the  student 
will  want  to  be  familiar  with  the  large  number  of  such 
interiors  to  be  found  in  the  books  and  magazines  of 
every  library,  for  the  purposes  of  this  study  the 
amount  of  detail  in  illustrations  of  this  character  ren- 
ders them  of  questionable  value.  They  include  too  much 
and  teach  too  little.  Being  here  concerned  with  the 
illustration  of  specific  principles  as  they  are  separately 
considered,  I  have  employed  for  the  purpose  line  draw- 
ings and  simple  photographs,  each  emphasizing  the 
point  involved — often  to  the  degree  of  intentional  over- 
emphasis— and  no  other.  The  drawings  are  inserted 
in  the  body  of  the  text,  thus  linking  indissolubly  the 
discussion  and  illustration  of  each  point.  By  this 
method  the  pictorial  value  of  the  book  may  perhaps  be 


viii  Author's  Preface 

lessened.    I  feel  sure,  however,  that  its  real  usefulness 
to  the  reader  will  be  very  greatly  increased. 

I  was  in  London  at  the  time  the  manuscript  was 
completed,  and  the  photographs  reproduced  are  for 
that  reason  largely  from  English  sources.  They 
were  for  the  most  part  made  available  through  the 
courtesy  of  Messrs.  Gill  &  Reigate,  Ltd.,  Messrs. 
Arthur  Sanderson  &  Sons,  Ltd.,  the  National  Gallery 
and  the  British  Museum.  It  is  a  pleasure  to  acknowl- 
edge my  appreciation  of  these  courtesies. 

BERNARD  C.  JAKWAY. 
Berkeley, 
California, 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

I    THE  NATURE  AND  METHOD  OF  THE  AST I 

II    FITNESS  TO  PURPOSE 10 

III  THE  GRAMMAR  OF  DECORATION 24 

IV  LINE  AND  FORM 34 

V    COLOR 51 

VI    THE  SIGNIFICANCE  OF  TEXTURE 70 

VII    THE  ELEMENTS  OF  BEAUTY 78 

VIII    THE  LAW  OF  CONTRAST in 

IX    PROPORTION 129 

X    BALANCE 169 

XI    LIGHT  AND  SHADE 189 

XII    THE  DOMINANT  HUE 205 

XIII  COLOR  HARMONY 221 

XIV  ORNAMENT 244 

XV    EXCELLENCE  IN  DESIGN .  254 

XVI     PERIOD  DECORATION 273 

XVII    CONCLUSION 285 


LIST  OF  PLATES 

PLATE 

I     Study  for  the  sidewall  of  a  dining  room  .     Frontispiece 

FACING 
FACE 

II  The  discus  thrower 36 

III  Oak  table  revealing  effect  of  repose  and  dignity  .     .  40 

IV  Greek  vases  illustrating  the  circle  and  the  oval  .     .  46 
V    The  "Rokeby"  Venus 54 

VI    A  dining  room 186 

VII    A  finely-designed  wing  chair 194 

VIII    An  ill-designed  wing  chair 196 

IX    A  drawing  room 200 

X    Table  illustrating  a  law  of  curvature 206 

XI    Bedroom   with  hangings 218 

XII     i8th  century  occasional  table 234 

XIII  Wall  papers  showing  effects  of  texture 240 

XIV  Wall  papers  showing  conventionalization  in  ornament  246 
XV    Carved  oak  chair 260 

XVI    A  fire-screen   . 278 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 

FIGURE  PAGE 

1  Diagram  illustrating  the  field  of  choice  in  decoration     .  12 

2  Complexity  which  has  become  confusion 22 

3  Likeness  and  unlikeness  in  significance 26 

4  Emotional  effect  of  straight  horizontal  lines  ....  37 

5  Weak  and  exaggerated  curves 42 

6  Emotional  values  of  broken  lines 43 

7  The  chromatic  circle 55 

8  Unity  in  variety 83 

9  Greek  vases  illustrating  the  dominant  element   ...  85 

10  Two  chairs  illustrating  unity  in  design 87 

11  A  room  lacking  in  unity  through  principality  ....  88 

12  The  same  room  corrected 89 

13  Fireplace  treatment 91 

14  Fireplace  treatment 92 

15  Composition  of  fireplace  group IOI 

16  Composition  of  subordinate  group 103 

17  Harmony  and  contrast  in  outline  and  proportion  .     .     .  106 

18  Physical  effect  of  contrast  in  height 113 

19  Physical  effect  of  contrast  in  size 1 13 

20  Physical  effect  of  contrast  in  tone 115 

21  Emphasis  and  interchange 122 

22  Contrast  in  shapes         124 

xiii 


xiv  List  of  Illustrations 

FIGURE  PAGE 

23  Two  chairs  illustrating  the  principle  of  growth  in  pro- 

portion        131 

24  The  Greek  columns 134 

25  Emotional  effects  due  to  changed  proportions  ....  136 

26  Method  of  placing  a  large  rug 143 

27  An  example  of  poor  selection  and  arrangement  .     .     .  147 

28  Hall  grouping,   illustrating  bad  proportion    ....  150 

29  Davenport   illustrating  the   mind's   demand   for   sound 

proportion 152 

30  Mayeux's  illustration  of  proportion 153 

31  The  golden  section 156 

32  Three  rectangles 157 

33  Sidewall  illustrating  the  golden  section 159 

34  Elevation  based  upon  the  Tuscan  order 160 

35  Structural  adequacy  due  to  well-proportioned  cornice  .  164 

36  Heavy  cornice  used  with  plain  and  ornamented  walls  .  165 

37  Sidewall  illustrating  effects  of  balance 179 

38  The   same  wall  in  a  poorly-managed   effect   of  occult 

balance 180 

39  The  same  wall  corrected 181 

40  Methods  of  hanging  pictures 183 

41  Floor  plan  and  elevation 187 

42  Graphic  curve  of  luminosity  of  the  spectrum  colors  .     .  IQS 

43  A  scale  of  tone  relationships 197 

44  Diagram  illustrating  the  formation  of  analogous  har- 


monies 


226 


45  Diagram  illustrating  the  formation  of  complementary 

harmonies 230 

46  Von  Bezold's  color  chart 231 


List  of  Illustrations  xv 

FIGURE  PAGE 

47  Diagram  illustrating  the  formation  of  trichromatic  har- 

monies         232 

48  Diagram  illustrating  the  distribution  of  complementaries  236 

49  Barocco  chair  showing  ornament  substituted  for  struc- 

ture        245 

50  Portieres  which  violate  the  principles  of  sound  design  .  255 

51  Hangings  with  cornice  board 268 


THE  PRINCIPLES 

OF 

INTERIOR  DECORATION 


THE  PRINCIPLES  OF  INTERIOR 
DECORATION 

CHAPTER  I 

THE  NATURE  AND  METHOD  OF  THE  ART 

WE  all  live  in  houses  of  one  sort  or  another. 
Before  these  houses  can  be  lived  in  they 
must    be    furnished.     When    furnished, 
whether  well  or  ill,   they  constitute  the 
environment  in  which  we  spend  the  great  part  of  our 
lives,  and  as  such  influence  us  continuously  and  pro- 
foundly.   In  the  degree  that  this  environment  is  beau- 
tiful and  comfortable  it  affects  us  favorably,  making 
for  repose,   for  quick  recuperation  from   fatigue  of 
mind  or  body,  for  cheerfulness,  for  wider  and  higher 
interests,  and  for  a  fuller  and  comelier  mode  of  living 
generally.     In  the  degree  that  it  is  uncomfortable  and 
unbeautiful  it  makes  quite  as  inevitably  for  the  op- 
posites  of  these  desiderata. 

It  is  therefore  evident  that  a  properly  furnished 
house  is,  for  each  of  us,  a  very  important  matter  in- 
deed ;  and,  as  a  necessary  corollary,  that  a  knowledge  of 
how  to  furnish  a  house  properly  is  also  a  very  important 
matter.  Unhappily  no  one  is  born  with  this  knowledge. 

I 


The  Principles  of  Interior  Decoration 

It  must  be  acquired,  at  some  cost  in  time  and  effort, 
before  it  can  be  employed.  Beauty  and  comfort  in  the 
home — and  equally,  of  course,  in  the  hotel,  theater,  or 
public  room  of  whatever  kind — do  not  result  from 
chance  or  happy  accident.  They  result  from  the  proper 
employment  of  reasoned  processes.  That  is,  they  re- 
sult only  from  the  practice  of  an  art,  using  the  word 
art  to  mean  practice  as  guided  by  correct  principles  in 
the  use  of  means  for  the  attainment  of  a  desired  end. 
This  art,  for  lack  of  a  better  term,  we  call  interior 
decoration.  Those  who  study  and  practice  this  art, 
whether  as  professionals  or  laymen,  are  here  called 
decorators. 

In  a  fine  sense  interior  decoration  is  one  of  the 
creative  arts.  Transforming  an  empty  house  into  a 
place  of  restful  beauty  is  no  less  creative  work  than 
transforming  a  stretcher  of  white  canvas  into  a  picture, 
or  a  block  of  stone  into  a  sculptured  form.  There  is, 
however,  this  very  important  distinction:  that  while 
the  decorator  creates  an  artistic  whole  he  does  not 
create  the  individual  units  by  means  of  which  that 
whole  is  built  up.  That  is,  he  does  not  design  and 
weave  his  own  rugs,  or  print  his  own  wall  papers  or 
cretonnes,  or  build  his  own  tables  or  chairs.  What 
he  does  is  to  select  such  things  as  he  may  require  from 
stocks  designed  and  made  by  others,  and  to  combine 
and  arrange  the  things  so  selected  in  such  a  way  as  to 
fashion  a  harmonious  and  beautiful  whole.  Interior 
decoration  therefore  is  in  an  emphatic  and  peculiar 
sense  an  art  of  selection  and  arrangement. 

It  is  obvious  that  such  an  art  does  not  require 

2 


The  Nature  and  Method  of  the  Art 

dexterity  of  hand  or  skill  in  craftsmanship  for  its 
successful  practice,  but  rather  skill  in  selection  and 
arrangement.  Work  of  the  highest  order  demands, 
here  as  in  the  other  arts,  that  power  of  imagination 
and  of  vast  artistic  synthesis  which  we  call  genius. 
Work  of  a  lower  order  demands,  at  the  least,  an  un- 
erring sense  of  what  is  becoming  and  appropriate,  a 
clear  perception  of  what  is  harmonious  and  beautiful  in 
the  relationships  of  form  and  color,  and  a  considerable 
familiarity  with  decorative  materials  and  processes.  In 
a  word,  it  demands  precisely  that  complex  of  knowl- 
edge, appreciation,  discrimination  and  judgment  con- 
noted by  the  word  taste. 

Taste,  which  Chenier  happily  characterized  as  a 
delicate  good  sense,  is  defined  by  the  dictionary  as 
the  power  of  perceiving  and  relishing  excellence  in 
human  performances ;  the  faculty  of  discerning  beauty, 
order,  congruity,  proportion,  symmetry,  or  whatever 
constitutes  excellence.  The  definition  is  inadequate,  as 
the  definition  of  any  complex  abstraction  is  sure  to 
be;  but  the  faculty  itself  constitutes  the  irreducible 
minimum  in  the  equipment  of  the  decorator.  Lacking 
taste,  no  one  can  hope  to  do  anything  worth  while  in 
the  art.  Possessing  it,  any  one  can  hope  to  do  much, 
however  meager  his  other  resources.  For  the  decorator 
the  acquisition  of  a  sure  taste  is  therefore  in  the  most 
determined  sense  a  necessity. 

There  is,  of  course,  no  royal  road.  The  distance  to 
be  traveled,  as  well  as  the  difficulties  of  the  journey, 
will  vary  for  each  individual.  At  the  worst,  we  know 
that  taste  is  a  faculty  which  can  be  cultivated  by  any 

3 


The  Principles  of  Interior  Decoration 

normal  person  who  is  willing  to  make  the  necessary  ef- 
fort. It  is  indubitable  that  different  persons  are  differ- 
ently endowed,  and  that  the  acquisition  of  a  cultivated 
taste  will  prove  more  difficult  for  one  than  for  another ; 
but  it  is  also  true  that  the  mind  and  the  spirit,  like  the 
body,  can  be  strengthened  by  exercise,  and  that  for  the 
person  of  normal  endowment  there  need  be  no  question 
of  possibility,  but  only  of  means  and  methods. 

The  word  taste  is  very  commonly  used  in  a  second 
sense,  to  express  individual  fancy  or  predilection.  This 
significance  of  the  term  is,  in  fact,  the  only  one  recog- 
nized by  a  great  many  people,  with  a  resulting  con- 
fusion of  ideas  which  is  responsible  for  much  bad 
decoration.  The  saying  that  there  is  no  disputing  in 
matters  of  taste  has  come  down  to  us  from  antiquity, 
and  even  to-day  it  is  true  that  great  numbers  of  house- 
wives do  not  admit  the  need  for  a  cultivated  taste 
because  they  do  not  recognize  the  authority,  or  indeed 
the  existence,  of  any  norms  or  standards  of  artistic 
judgment  higher  than  their  own  preferences.  Quite 
naturally  the  more  unsophisticated  among  housewives 
of  this  class  proceed  to  furnish  their  homes  according 
to  the  promptings  of  their  own  sweet  will,  and  remain 
happily  unperturbed  by  the  result.  Among  the  more 
sophisticated  we  find  on  the  one  hand  a  tendency  to 
imitate — to  copy  from  the  homes  of  acquaintances  or 
from  books  and  magazines,  or,  under  the  name  of 
period  decoration,  to  set  up  in  their  homes,  with 
scrupulous  fidelity  to  detail,  one  or  more  of  the  historic 
styles.  On  the  other  hand,  there  is  a  disposition  to 
reject  experience;  to  aim  only  at  self-expression;  and, 

4 


The  Nature  and  Method  of  the  Art 

mistaking  mere  eccentricity  for  originality,  to  create 
decorative  environments  which  reveal  neither  beauty 
nor  comfort,  but  only  the  vagaries  of  inept  and  un- 
disciplined fancy. 

It  is  clear  that  thej-eal  aim  of  interior  decoration  is 
as  remote  from  mere  imitation  as  it  is  from  mere 
eccentricity;  being,  as  we  have  seen,  no  other  than 
the  creation  of  a  bej.utiful__and_fitting^hgme.  In  these 
creative  processes  it  can  work  neither  blindly  nor  by 
fiat.  Rather  it  must,  like  every  other  creative  art,  work 
in  harmony  with  a  body  of  definable  general  principles, 
and  its  products,  whether  imitative  or  original,  can  be 
excellent  only  in  the  degree  that  they  conform  to  these 
principles.  It  follows  therefore  that  taste,  in  so  far  as  it 
governs  the  selective  processes  of  the  art,  can  be  best 
and  most  quickly  cultivated  by  the  study  of  these  under- 
lying principles,  and  by  the  critical  and  long-continued 
examination  of  such  examples  of  good  and  bad  work 
as  are  necessary  to  their  illustration  and  mastery.  To 
deny  that  interior  decoration  has  a  basis  in  organized 
knowledge  is  to  deny  the  possibility  of  intelligent 
progress  in  the  art.  Writing  of  the  art  of  painting, 
Leonardo  da  Vinci  long  ago  observed  that  "those  who 
become  enamored  of  the  practice  of  the  art  without 
having  previously  applied  themselves  to  the  diligent 
study  of  the  scientific  part  of  it  may  be  compared  to 
mariners  who  put  to  sea  without  rudder  or  compass, 
and  therefore  cannot  be  certain  of  arriving  at  the 
wished- for  port.  Practice  must  always  be  founded  on 
good  theory."  What  is  true  of  painting  is  even  more 
true  of  interior  decoration.  It,  too,  consists  in  a 


The  Principles  of  Interior  Decoration 

superstructure  of  practice  resting  upon  a  substructure 
of  principle,  and  any  genuinely  productive  study  of  it 
must  begin  with  its  foundation. 

Interior  decoration  is  a  part  of  the  whole  body  of 
architecture,  an  art  which  differs  from  painting, 
sculpture,  music  and  poetry  in  that  it  has  a  practical 
aim.  While  the  other  arts  have  always  served  primarily 
to  give  expression  to  man's  artistic  impulses  and  to 
satisfy  his  esthetic  needs,  architecture,  at  first  devoted 
to  the  erection  of  his  tombs  and  temples,  was  soon  made 
to  minister  directly  to  his  comfort  by  providing  him 
with  habitations.  And  since  it  is  the  first  business  of 
a  habitation  to  be  habitable,  architecture  has  always  had 
to  take  due  account  not  only  of  the  esthetic  factors 
which  are  the  sole  concern  of  the  other  arts,  but  also 
of  the  constantly  varying  factors  of  individual  needs 
and  preferences.  For  this  reason,  while  sculpture  has 
changed  but  little  since  the  time  of  Greece,  and  paint- 
ing has  not  changed  greatly  since  the  Renaissance, 
architecture  has  changed  continually,  both  in  methods 
and  ideals,  in  the  effort  to  adapt  itself  measurably  to 
varying  climatic  conditions  and  building  materials,  and 
to  changing  social  organization  and  racial,  family  and 
individual  needs. 

Herein  lies  the  justification  jind  the  point  of  de- 
parture for  the  separate  study  of  the  art  of  decoration, 
which  is  concerned,  far  more  intimately  than  is  architec- 
ture proper,  with  the  satisfaction  of  special  needs  and 
the  expression  of  personal  tastes  and  aspirations.  In 
construction  a  house  must  conform,  in  a  considerable 
measure  at  least,  to  the  prevailing  taste  and  to  available 

6 


building  materials.  In  the  choice  and  arrangement  of 
its  furniture  and  applied  decoration  no  such  necessity 
exists,  and  individual  needs  and  preferences  are  rightly 
to  be  regarded  as  matters  of  primary  importance.  Thus 
interior  decoration  is  peculiarly  a^  practical  art.  Its 
actual  problems  are  all  individual  problems,  sTnce  each 
involves  the  adaptation  of  decorative  objects,  materials, 
processes  and  ideals  to  particular  needs,  and  to  the 
requirements  of  a  particular  house. 

The  extraordinary  interest  in  housefurnishing  every- 
where manifest  to-day  is  a  phenomenon  of  recent  and 
rapid  growth.  Forty  years  ago  the  American  peo- 
ple had  slight  conception  of  the  cultural  importance 
of  the  home  environment,  and  cared  relatively  little 
about  the  way  in  which  their  houses  were  furnished. 
Public  taste,  which  became  debased  here  as  in  Europe 
after  the  close  of  the  Napoleonic  wars,  was  still  at  the 
ebb.  Beauty  itself,  in  any  form,  was  regarded  with 
suspicion,  as  submersive  of  morality,  by  a  considerable 
number  of  our  people,  and  with  indifference  by  a  vastly 
larger  number.  Even  among  the  wealthy  and  traveled 
classes  there  were  few  well-furnished  houses.  In  fact, 
it  was  an  acquaintance  with  the  homes  of  our  wealthy 
and  traveled  classes  that  moved  Oscar  Wilde,  who 
visited  New  York  at  about  that  time,  to  characterize 
American  houses — with  more  truth  than  tact — as  "illy 
designed,  decorated  shabbily  and  in  bad  taste,  and 
filled  with  furniture  not  honestly  made  and  out  of 
character." 

While  it  is  possible  that  we  could  hardly  expect  to 
escape  a  trial  if  the  same  indictment  were  brought 

7 


The  Principles  of  Interior  Decoration 

against  us  to-day,  we  could  certainly  make  out  a  far 
better  case  for  the  defense.  During  the  last  three 
decades  American  life  has  been  dominated  by  a  deep- 
rooted  universal  determination  to  make  that  life  more 
worth  the  living.  This  purpose  has  inspired  and 
vivified  every  phase  of  national  thought  and  activity, 
advancing  education,  altering  old  ideals  in  business 
and  in  society,  shortening  the  hours  and  improving  the 
conditions  of  labor,  driving  the  boss  and  the  machine 
out  of  the  business  of  government,  softening  harsh 
creeds  and  emphasizing  the  ideals  of  brotherhood  and 
service. 

In  nothing  has  the  effect  of  this  determination  to 
make  life  saner  and  richer  been  more  marked  than  in 
our  changing  attitude  toward  our  homes  and  toward 
the  home-making  processes.  And  this  growing  desire 
for  fitting  and  beautiful  homes  for  their  own  sake  has 
been  intensified  by  modern  science,  which  has  taught 
us  to  see  that  our  own  well-being  and  the  well-being  of 
our  children  is  conditioned  by  the  factor  of  home 
environment  as  inevitably  as  the  well-being  of  the 
flowers  in  our  gardens  is  conditioned  by  the  physical 
factors  of  sun  and  soil  and  rain. 

For  these  reasons  the  past  fifteen  years  have  wit- 
nessed what  we  may  well  call  a  revolutionary  change. 
No  woman  of  intelligence  is  now  indifferent  to  the 
beauty  or  the  ugliness  of  her  home.  The  economic,  cul- 
tural and  social  importance  of  the  art  of  interior  decora- 
tion is  widely  and  clearly  recognized.  And  while  it  is 
unhappily  true  that  multitudes  of  houses  still  exist  which 
no  sane  man  could  call  either  beautiful  or  comfortable, 

8 


The  Nature  and  Method  of  the  Art 

their  existence  is  for  the  most  part  due  to  ignorance  or 
lack  of  skill  rather  than  to  indifference.  Whatever  we 
actually  have,  we  all  want  attractive  homes,  and  we 
therefore  want  to  know  how  to  create  them. 


CHAPTER  II 

FITNESS   TO    PURPOSE 

ONE  who  sets  out  to  furnish  a  given  house  for 
the  occupancy  of  a  given  family  faces  a  three- 
fold problem.     He  must  select  and  arrange  in 
the  house  such  things  as  suit  the  age,  sex  and 
temperament  of  the  individual  members,  meet  their 
needs,  express  their  tastes  and  aspirations,  and  fit  their 
purse.     He  must,  moreover,   see  that  the  things  so 
selected  and  arranged  suit  the  house  itself,  in  scale, 
coloring  and  style.    Finally,  he  must  see  to  it  that  these 
things  are  not  only  suitable  but   intrinsically  good- 
looking,  and  that  they  combine  to  form  a  harmonious 
and  beautiful  whole. 

In  other  words,  the  treatment  of  every  house,  and 
of  each  room  in  every  house,  involves  the  interplay  of 
three  factors,  which  we  may  differentiate  as  the  per- 
sonal, the  architectural  and  the  esthetic.  No  decora- 
tive problem,  however  simple  or  complex,  can  be  solved 
rightly  unless  each  of  these  factors  is  rightly  considered 
and  given  its  due  importance  in  the  final  result. 

It  is  imperative  to  get  this  point  clearly  fixed  at  the 
outset,  since  it  is  basic.  The  decorator  is  in  practice 
by  no  means  a  free  agent.  Rather  he  is  rigorously 
limited  in  his  choices  by  the  requirements  of  suitability 

10 


Fitness  to  Purpose 

or  fitness.  Thus  among  the  illimitable  number  of  pos- 
sible choices  he  is  first  of  all  limited  to  those  things 
which  are  intrinsically  good-looking,  or  beautiful. 
Among  the  wide  range  of  possible  choices  that  remain 
after  this  first  process  of  elimination,  he  is  again  lim- 
ited to  such  things  as  adequately  meet  the  peculiar 
needs  of  a  particular  group.  Among  the  somewhat 
narrow  range  of  possible  choices  remaining  after  this 
second  process  of  elimination  he  is  again  strictly 
limited  to  such  things  as  fit  the  architectural  require- 
ments of  a  particular  building  and  room.  The  actual 
range  of  choice  is  illustrated  graphically  in  Figure  I. 
Here  the  circle  A  represents  the  total  of  good-looking 
things,  B  the  total  of  things  that  would  fit  the  require- 
ments of  the  family,  and  C  the  total  that  would  fit  the 
house.  It  is  clear  that  .only  such  things  as  lie  within 
the  small  area  D,  where  the  three  circles  intersect, 
can  be  of  direct  interest  to  the  decorator,  and  that  his 
choices,  when  he  begins  the  work  of  decorative  compo- 
sition, must,  whatever  his  personal  fancies  and  predi- 
lections, be  strictly  confined  to  this  area. 

All  unfitting  decoration,  of  whatever  kind,  is  vanity 
and  vexation  of  spirit.  It  involves  the  loss  of  comfort, 
the  sacrifice  of  beauty,  the  waste  of  money.  Occasion- 
ally, of  course,  it  must  result  from  lack  of  means ;  but 
far  more  often  it  results  from  lack  of  taste,  of  energy, 
and  of  simple  common  sense.  That  large  means  are 
essential  to  the  creation  of  comfortable  and  beautiful 
rooms,  and  that  such  rooms  are  certain  to  result  when 
large  means  are  employed,  is  a  widespread  notion 
whose  unsoundness  is  exposed  by  multitudes  of  houses. 

ii 


The  Principles  of  Interior  Decoration 


In  point  of  fact,  any  one  can  furnish  a  home  fitly  and 
even  beautifully  with  relatively  inexpensive  materials; 
provided  only  that  he  have  the  taste  to  recognize  fit- 
ness and  beauty  in 
materials,  the  energy 
and  patience  to  search 
out  the  right  things, 
and  the  imaginative 
power  necessary  to 
combine  them  in  har- 
monious wholes. 

In  setting  about 
the  decoration  of  a 
given  house  the  ar- 
chitectural factor  is 
properly  the  first  to 

FIGURE  i. — Of  the  three  intersect- 
ing circles,  A  represents  the  total 
number  of  things  available  which, 
without  reference  to  their  suitability, 
are  intrinsically  good-looking;  B  the 
total  number  capable  of  satisfying  the 
personal  requirements;  C  the  total 
number  capable  of  satisfying  the 
architectural  requirements ;  D  the  to- 
tal capable  of  satisfying  all  the  con- 
ditions, and  to  which  the  choices  of 
the  decorator  must  accordingly 


be  considered,  since 
the  size  and  other 
physical  characteris- 
tics of  the  rooms  will 
of  necessity  largely 
condition  the  size, 
ornamental  detail  and 
coloring  of  the  things 

limited.  that    go    into    them. 

The  personal   factor 

is,  however,  properly  first  in  importance.  A  house  is 
not,  like  a  hotel,  a  temporary  resting-place  for  all  the 
world  and  his  wife.  It  is  a  permanent  dwelling-place 
for  a  particular  group  of  individuals.  Hence  no  deco- 
rative treatment,  however  admirably  it  may  deal  with 

12 


be 


Fitness  to  Purpose 

the  architectural  and  esthetic  factors  involved,  can  be 
considered  good  unless  it  makes  adequate  provision  for 
the  satisfaction  of  the  individual  and  family  needs, 
preferences  and  limitations  of  this  particular  group. 

This  is  a  matter  of  simple  common  sense;  yet  it  is 
continually  ignored  both  by  professional  decorators 
and  by  laymen.  The  professional,  by  virtue  of  his 
training,  thinks  first  of  the  architectural  and  esthetic 
factors.  He  is  rarely  on  terms  of  sufficient  intimacy 
with  his  clients  to  be  able  to  estimate  accurately  the 
personal  considerations  involved.  Moreover,  being 
human,  he  is  likely  to  assume  the  professional's  attitude 
of  good-natured  contempt  for  the  layman's  opinion  in 
his  own  field,  and  to  regard  the  decoration  of  a  par- 
ticular house  or  room  as  wholly  a  matter  of  creating 
a  harmonious  and  beautiful  interior,  even  though  the 
process  may  involve  a  very  considerable  disregard  of 
the  real  needs  and  preferences  of  his  clients. 

The  layman,  and  particularly  the  housewife,  very 
often  reveals  a  more  or  less  complete  disregard  for  the 
personal  factor.  Sometimes  this  is  due  to  failure  to 
remember  that  the  furnished  room  is,  after  all,  simply 
background  for  the  people  who  live  in  it;  often  to 
unwillingness  to  make  the  very  real  and  sometimes  pro- 
longed effort  necessary  to  the  perfect  adaptation  of 
furnishings  to  individual  needs;  usually,  perhaps,  to  a 
desire  to  follow  what  is  conceived  to  be  the  fashion. 

We  are  all  governed  largely  in  our  choices  by  the 
instinct  of  imitation.  This  instinct,  which  impels  us 
to  dress  in  the  mode  and  to  read  the  best  sellers,  impels 

13 


The  Principles  of  Interior  Decoration 

us  also  to  copy  the  latest  mode  in  the  decoration  of  our 
homes.  But  while  this  very  natural  desire  to  be  au  fait 
in  all  things  results  in  much  business  for  the  dealer  in 
decorative  materials,  as  it  does  for  the  milliner  and 
the  modiste,  it  results  also  in  much  bad,  because  un- 
fitting, decoration.  Many  housewives  reveal  an  amus- 
ing eagerness  to  have  their  rooms  done  in  the  latest, 
rather  than  in  the  most  fitting,  manner — an  eagerness 
based  upon  the  widely-held  but  quite  erroneous  idea 
that  there  must  necessarily  be  frequent  and  abrupt 
changes  of  fashion  in  house-furnishing  as  in  dress, 
and  that  the  latest  mode  must  be  the  most  desirable. 
This  notion  is  peculiarly  difficult  to  combat  in  our  own 
day,  when  architecture  and  decoration  are  purely 
eclectic,  and  in  our  own  land,  where  both  the  machin- 
ery of  production  and  distribution  and  the  absence  of 
traditional  models  and  of  accepted  standards  of  taste 
tend  to  emphasize  the  incidental  and  transient  rather 
than  the  essential  and  permanent  aspects  of  the  house- 
furnishing  art. 

The  decorator  must,  however,  never  forget  that  he 
who  chooses  to  disregard  the  personal  factor,  or  even 
to  make  it  of  subordinate  importance,  must  pay  in  loss 
of  comfort  and  of  beauty.  One  whose  chief  concern 
is  to  work  in  the  craze  of  the  hour  may  experience 
an  hour's  satisfaction;  but  he  will  assuredly  fail  in 
achieving  the  dignity,  the  individuality  and  the  fine 
flavor  of  distinction  to  be  found  only  in  homes  whose 
decorative  treatments  are  based  throughout  upon  the 
studied  needs  and  tastes  of  their  occupants. 

Making  the  furnishings  fit  the  house  is  second  in 

14 


Fitness  to  Purpose 

importance  only  to  making  them  fit  the  people  who  live 
in  it,  and  the  decorator  must  in  every  instance  consider 
the  house  to  be  done  quite  as  carefully  as  he  considers 
its  occupants.  He  will,  first  of  all,  study  the  house 
as  a  whole — its  general  plan,  its  details,  its  style. 
Later  he  will  take  up  in  turn  each  individual  room, 
observing  its  size  and  proportions,  its  woodwork  and 
floor,  the  number,  shape  and  location  of  its  openings, 
its  relation  to  connecting  rooms,  to  the  view  outside, 
and  to  the  morning  and  afternoon  sun.  Only  when 
he  is  in  possession  of  complete  and  accurate  informa- 
tion can  he  undertake  the  business  of  choosing  and 
combining  furnishings  with  any  assurance  of  success. 
The  bearing  of  these  personal  and  architectural 
considerations  upon  the  actual  processes  of  decorative 
composition  will  be  developed  in  later  chapters.  They 
are  mentioned  here  simply  to  drive  home  the  fact  that 
from  every  point  of  view  fitness  to  purpose  is  a  prin- 
ciple of  dominant  importance  in  the  art.  Good  deco- 
ration is  not  absolute,  but  relative,  being  essentially  a 
matter  of  correct  relationships.  A  house  can  be  con- 
sidered to  be  properly  furnished  only  when  it  meets 
all  the  real  needs,  both  practical  and  esthetic,  of  all  its 
occupants.  A  decorative  idea  or  material  or  process 
or  object  is  good  only  when,  in  a  given  situation,  it 
fits  its  purpose.  Otherwise  it  is  bad.  Fitness  to  pur- 
pose, as  a  principle  of  selection,  is  at  the  beginning  of 
interior  decoration,  and  is  in  fact  as  fundamental  to 
the  processes  of  that  art  as  the  proposition  that  a 
straight  line  is  the  shortest  distance  between  two  points 
is  fundamental  to  the  processes  of  geometry. 

15 


The  Principles  of  Interior  Decoration 

•  Any  creative  work  must  start  with  an  idea.  Before 
we  can  do  anything  we  must  clearly  understand  what 
we  desire  to  do.  This  fact  must  be  accepted  unre- 
servedly by  the  decorator.  He  must  not  be  so  na'ive 
as  to  suppose  that  vague  ideals  and  hazy,  undefined 
enthusiasms  for  beauty,  fitness  and  distinction  will  get 
him  anywhere  in  his  art.  Its  effects  are  not  produced 
by  magic  or  incantation,  but  by  definite  relationships 
of  form  and  color,  no  more  mysterious  than  the  rela- 
tionships of  words  in  sentences,  and  equally  dependent 
for  expression  upon  definite  ideas.  Rooms  do  not 
grow  in  repose  or  beauty  or  dignity.  They  must  be 
invested  with  these  attributes  by  studied  creative 
processes.  These  processes,  as  we  shall  see,  are  not 
difficult  to  understand;  but  they  can  be  successfully 
employed  only  by  one  who  knows  precisely  what  he 
is  trying  to  do. 

The  first  thing  to  be  definitely  determined  is  the 
purpose  of  each  room — not  the  name  by  which  it  is  to 
be  designated,  but  the  actual  function  it  is  to  perform 
in  the  life  of  the  household.  It  is  reasonable  to  assume 
that  the  rooms  of  any  house  will  be  devoted  to  such 
special  purposes  as  best  satisfy  the  real  needs  and  tastes 
of  its  occupants,  and  that  accordingly  the  choice 
between  a  library,  drawing  room  or  music  room,  for 
example,  or  between  a  sewing  room,  den,  or  additional 
guest  room,  will  be  determined  by  considerations  of 
fitness.  Yet  while  this  sounds  too  elementary  to  need 
reciting,  it  is  a  matter  of  common  observation  that 
many  women  are  more  strongly  influenced  in  this 
matter  by  the  conventions  of  their  neighborhood, 

16 


Fitness  to  Purpose 

coterie  or  class  than  by  real  needs  or  aspirations.  Thus 
homes  are  equipped  with  libraries  in  which  no  one  ever 
reads,  with  drawing  rooms  used  but  once  in  a  blue 
moon,  with  breakfast  rooms  that  never  get  the  morning 
sun;  and  thus  time  and  money  are  squandered,  and 
precious  space  is  worse  than  wasted. 

Once  the  real  purpose  of  a  room  has  been  deter- 
mined, everything  used  in  furnishing  it  should  be 
chosen  and  arranged  to  concur  in  expressing  that  pur- 
pose. Thus  the  "hall,  which  in  the  modern  house  is 
primarily  a  means  of  access  to  the  other  rooms,  should 
have  an  atmosphere  of  welcome  and  good  cheer, 
tempered,  however,  by  dignity  and  restraint.  We 
receive  the  stranger  at  our  door  with  cordiality,  but 
do  not  immediately  admit  him  to  the  intimacies  of 
family  life,  and  the  hall  should  be  made  to  express  this 
distinction.  Its  atmosphere  of  cheer  and  welcome  can 
be  insured  by  warm  and  cheerful  coloring;  its  effect 
of  dignity  and  restraint  by  the  employment  of  few 
pieces  of  furniture,  and  these  of  a  somewhat  formal 
type,  placed  in  carefully  balanced  relation  to  the  room. 
Tall  chairs  and  cabinets  and  long,  narrow  wall  tables 
ordinarily  best  accord  with  the  proportions  of  the  hall, 
while  richly  colored  textiles  relieve  and  set  off  by 
contrast  its  bare  spaces.  Pictures,  marquetry,  and 
small  objects  which  require,  for  clear  perception  and 
full  enjoyment,  wide  spaces  or  a  definite  effort  of 
attention,  have  as  a  rule  no  place  in  the  hall,  since  the 
room  is  one  in  which  but  little  time  is  spent. 

Similarly,  the  living  room,  as  the  room  in  which  all 
the  members  of  the  family  meet  for  rest,  reading  or 

17 


The  Principles  of  Interior  Decoration 

conversation,  and  in  which  they  spend  a  great  part  of 
their  time,  must  have  as  its  first  and  absolutely  essen- 
tial quality  an  atmosphere  of  spaciousness  and  repose. 
This  can  be  ensured  through  the  use  of  a  relatively  low- 
toned  and  neutral  coloring,  background  surfaces  free 
from  any  hint  of  garishness,  substantial  and  inviting 
chairs,  long  and  low  sofas,  cabinets  and  tables,  and 
adequate  but  properly  shaded  lights,  and  by  limiting 
the  very  small  or  trivial  and  fussy  accessories  to  a 
number  incapable  of  destroying  the  serenity  of  the 
room.  Such  a  room  should  never  be  overcrowded; 
nor  can  small,  bright-colored  rugs,  delicate  upholstery 
fabrics  or  fragile-looking  furniture  have  any  place  in 
it,  because  these  things  cannot  be  made  to  concur  in 
an  effect  of  spaciousness  and  repose. 

Like  considerations  of  fitness  to  situation  and  use 
apply  of  course  to  the  decoration  of  every  other  room. 
The  things  which  enter  into  the  treatment  of  a  dining 
room  should  concur  in  making  it  a  comfortable,  rest- 
ful, and  yet  a  stimulating  place  in  which  to  eat. 
Nothing  can  fitly  find  a  place  in  a  bedroom  which  tends 
to  destroy  its  essential  function  as  a  place  in  which  to 
rest  and  sleep. 

Obviously  these  vague  generalities  are  of  slight 
value  to  the  student.  They  will  be  restated  more  defi- 
nitely and  more  scientifically  in  subsequent  chapters. 
They  are  introduced  here  by  way  of  reemphasizing  the 
fact  that  fitness  to  purpose  conditions  the  choice  of  all 
the  furnishings  of  the  room,  as  it  conditions  the  choice 
of  purpose  of  the  room,  and  that  comfort  and  beauty 
will  remain  forever  strangers  to  a  room  in  which  this 

18 


Fitness  to  Purpose 

basic  principle  of  all  good  work  has  failed  of  appli- 
cation. 

The  decorative  materials,  like  other  good  things  of 
this  world,  must  be  paid  for.  Accordingly,  their  cost 
must  in  every  instance  be  determined  by  considerations 
of  fitness.  But  while  it  is  obvious  that  a  house  may 
properly  be  furnished  either  sumptuously  or  inexpen- 
sively, according  to  the  character  of  the  house  itself 
and  to  the  means  and  tastes  of  its  occupants,  it  seems 
to  be  less  obvious  to  the  layman  that  it  ought  in  either 
case  to  be  furnished  to  a  carefully  graduated  scale. 
In  decoration  it  is  unwise  for  artistic  no  less  than  for 
practical  reasons  to  put  all  one's  eggs  into  one  basket. 
It  is  a  serious  mistake  to  mix  the  costly  with  the  cheap, 
since  both  are  thereby  spoiled.  Consistent  adherence 
to  a  predetermined  standard  of  excellence  throughout 
the  appointments  of  each  room,  and  to  standards  not 
markedly  different  in  connecting  rooms,  is  absolutely 
essential  to  good  work.  The  decorator  must  accord- 
ingly be  on  guard  against  the  easy  possibility  of  dis- 
turbing the  decorative  balance  of  a  room  by  the  use 
of  single  objects  or  materials  too  costly  for  the  other 
furnishings,  or  of  destroying  the  decorative  consistency 
and  air  de  famille  of  a  suite  of  connecting  rooms  by 
making  any  one  of  them,  whatever  its  character,  too 
fine  for  the  others. 

All  these  considerations  point  to  the  need  of  a 
studied  plan  of  procedure.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  a 
consistent  plan,  based  upon  a  careful  study  of  the 
rooms  to  be  furnished  and  the  needs,  tastes  and  means 
of  their  occupants,  is  only  less  essential  to  good  work 

19 


The  Principles  of  Interior  Decoration 

in  furnishing  a  house  than  in  building  it.  While  the 
proper  scope  of  such  a  plan  will  become  more  clear 
as  we  proceed  with  this  study,  it  is  evident  at  the  out- 
set that  any  plan  ought  to  include  a  color  scheme  for 
each  room,  based  upon  a  careful  consideration  of  both 
the  architectural  and  personal  factors  involved,  and  a 
list  of  all  the  important  articles  required  for  each  room, 
as  determined  by  the  purpose  and  size  of  the  room  and 
the  needs  of  those  who  use  it.  With  this  list  the 
decorator  will  prepare  a  schedule  of  prices  which  will 
show  the  approximate  cost  of  furnishing  each  room, 
and,  by  addition,  the  total  cost  of  all  the  rooms.  If 
this  grand  total  proves  to  be  too  high  for  the  available 
appropriation,  the  whole  treatment,  or  at  any  rate  the 
treatment  of  connecting  rooms,  must  be  revised  and 
scaled  down  in  order  to  preserve  the  effect  of  con- 
sistency which  is  an  invariable  characteristic  of  good 
work  in  decoration  as  in  all  the  arts. 

Fitness  to  purpose  has  a  negative  as  well  as  a  positive 
side,  since  it  is  quite  as  necessary  to  leave  out  the  non- 
essential  as  it  is  to  include  the  essential.  Because  of 
the  increasingly  clear  perception  of  this  fact,  simplicity 
has  become  one  of  the  watchwords  of  present-day 
practice.  Properly  used,  the  term  means  freedom  from 
complexity;  from  too  many  parts;  from  artificial  and 
pretentious  style.  It  does  not  mean  mere  bareness  or 
crudity  or  entire  absence  of  ornament  or  entire  inno- 
cence of  style.  There  is  no  esoteric  or  peculiar  virtue 
in  calcimined  walls,  ingrain  or  oatmeal  papers,  scrim, 
burlap,  extra  weight  denim,  rag  rugs  or  mission  fur- 
niture, though  each  of  these  materials  may  be  excellent 

20 


Fitness  to  Purpose 

in  its  proper  situation.  A  room  may  be  clothed  with 
glowing  colors  and  filled  with  sumptuous  fabrics  and 
richly  ornamented  forms  and  still  possess  the  quality 
of  simplicity,  provided  only  that  nothing  is  included 
which  could  have  been  left  out  without  marring  the 
beauty  or  impairing  the  usefulness  of  the  room. 

It  must  be  admitted,  however,  that  most  American 
houses  do  lack  simplicity.  The  American  housewife  is 
inclined  to  accumulate  much  and  to  discard  little.  Her 
rooms  are  likely  to  contain  too  many  colors,  too  much 
pattern,  too  much  furniture,  too  many  pictures,  par- 
ticularly too  many  gew-gaws  and  gimcracks.  It  must 
be  remembered  that  a  multitude  of  little  trivial  things 
destroys  the  unity  of  a  room  esthetically  and  clutters 
it  physically,  fatiguing  the  mind  and  disturbing  the 
serenity  of  its  occupants.  Decoration  deals  with  large 
spaces,  and  the  mind  can  grasp  the  details  of  small 
objects  only  as  the  result  of  effort.  When  it  makes 
such  an  effort,  only  to  find  the  object  of  it  common- 
place and  quite  unworthy  of  attention,  a  sense  of  dis- 
gust is  inevitable.  Even  when  small  objects  are  beau- 
tiful and  intrinsically  interesting  they  ought  to  be  used 
sparingly,  for  their  decorative  value  is  in  general 
inversely  proportional  to  their  number.  It  is  far  better 
to  follow  the  Japanese  custom,  displaying  these  beauti- 
ful things  a  few  at  a  time  while  the  others  remain 
out  of  sight,  than  to  make  all  common  by  too  lavish  use. 

Moreover,  any  work  of  art,  whether  large  or  small, 
must  be  regarded  as  objectionable  in  any  room  unless 
it  is  in  a  decorative  sense  more  valuable  than  the 
space  it  occupies.  A  given  room  is  limited  in  size 

21 


The  Principles  of  Interior  Decoration 

and  in  floor  and  wall  area,  as  the  mind  is  limited  in  its 
power  of  attention ;  and  since  open  spaces,  an  effect  of 
atmosphere  and  repose,  and  freedom  from  too  many 
stimuli  are  absolutely  essential  to  beauty  and  comfort, 


FIGURE  2. — Sidewall  utterly  lacking  in  simplicity.  The  wall 
paper  is  unsuitable  as  a  background  for  the  pictures,  of  which 
there  are  far  too  many. 

the  decorator  must  ensure  this  necessary  simplicity, 
even  though  he  may  thereby  be  compelled  to  eliminate 
things  of  real  excellence. 

Most  of  the  sermons  preached  on  simplicity  during 
the  past  twenty  years  have  had  for  their  text  William 
Morris'  admonition  to  have  in  your  house  only  what 
you  know  to  be  useful  and  believe  to  be  beautiful.  The 

22 


Fitness  to  Purpose 

precept  is  perfect;  yet  like  many  others  that  have  to 
do  with  conduct  it  is  hard  to  live  up  to.  Merely  to 
know  what  is  useful  demands  thoughtful  considera- 
tion, while  to  know  what  is  beautiful  presupposes  the 
possession  of  a  taste  which  would  render  the  advice 
superfluous.  Moreover,  to  discard  even  the  things  we 
know  to  be  useless  or  unbeautiful  involves  overcoming 
the  primal  instinct  of  possession  which  lies  miles  deep 
below  our  surface  veneering  of  culture.  To  give  up 
the  things  we  own  is  to  go  against  nature,  and  we  can 
do  it  only  as  we  learn  to  value  what  we  gain  by  the 
process  more  highly  than  what  we  lose. 

Finally,  the  power  of  sentiment  is  to  be  reckoned 
with.  Many  of  the  things  which  taste  and  judgment 
warn  us  to  banish  possess  a  sentimental  value.  They 
may  be  family  heirlooms,  the  gifts  of  valued  friends, 
the  injudicious  purchases  of  honeymoon  days.  Whether 
through  fear  of  offending  the  donors,  or  because  we 
love  them,  as  Desdemona  loved  Othello,  for  the  dis- 
tressful strokes  their  youth  has  suffered,  we  are  dis- 
posed to  keep  these  things  in  spite  of  their  manifest 
ugliness  and  the  patent  fact  that  they  destroy  the 
simplicity  of  our  rooms.  Into  the  precinct  of  these 
intimate  considerations  the  outsider  may  not  venture. 
What  to  keep  and  what  to  discard  is  manifestly  a  mat- 
ter for  each  household  to  decide  for  itself.  But  this 
is  certain :  If  you  would  have  simplicity  and  beauty 
you  must  pay  for  them.  "Every  sweet  hath  its  sour; 
every  evil  its  good." 


CHAPTER  III 

THE  GRAMMAR  OF  DECORATION 

WE  have  seen  that  interior  decoration  is  an 
art  of  selection  and  arrangement,  working 
under  the  guidance  of  the  faculty  of  taste. 
In  practice  this  faculty  is  first  employed  in 
a  comprehensive  process  of  elimination.  The  decora- 
tor, having  familiarized  himself  with  what  is  made 
in  furniture,  fabrics,  and  all  sorts  of  decorative  acces- 
sories, with  local  market  conditions  and  costs,  and 
with  the  requirements  of  the  house  to  be  furnished 
and  the  needs,  tastes  and  means  of  its  occupants,  sur- 
veys the  whole  body  of  available  materials  and  pro- 
cesses and  eliminates  from  further  consideration  all 
those  which  do  not  promise  to  meet  adequately  the  re- 
quirements both  of  the  household  and  the  house.  There 
remains  a  second  process,  which  is  to  choose  from  the 
relatively  small  body  of  materials  and  processes  re- 
maining after  this  twofold  elimination  those  which 
seem  to  possess  special  fitness  and  beauty,  and  to  com- 
bine and  arrange  them  in  such  a  manner  as  to  create 
a  harmonious  whole. 

This  process  of  combining  the  parts  of  any  work  of 
art  into  a  whole  is  called  composition.  It  constitutes, 
of  course,  the  real  creative  problem.  Writing  of  the 

24 


The  Grammar  of  Decoration 

art  of  painting,  Ruskin  defined  composition  as  the 
help  of  everything  in  the  picture  by  everything  else, 
and  the  definition  applies  with  equal  felicity  to  the 
other  arts.  Poetry  combines  words  into  phrases,  lines 
and  stanzas  in  such  ways  that  each  word  and  each 
phrase  helps  all  the  others.  Musical  composition  com- 
bines tones  into  helpful  relations  known  as  chords,  and 
helps  these  chords  with  rhythm,  timbre  and  expression. 
Interior  decoration  takes  lines,  shapes,  colors  and  tex- 
tures— or,  more  concretely,  rugs,  papers,  fabrics,  furni- 
ture, pictures,  statuary,  pottery  and  lamps — and  so 
arranges  and  combines  them  in  a  given  space  that  each 
is  helpful  to  all  the  rest. 

What  is  meant  by  the  statement  that  words  or  tones 
help  each  other?  Clearly,  it  can  mean  only  that  each 
contributes,  according  to  its  nature  and  in  the  most 
effective  way  possible,  toward  the  expression  of  a  com- 
mon idea.  Clearly,  too,  the  parts  of  a  furnished  room 
can  help  each  other  only  in  the  same  way.  When  we 
say  that  things  harmonize,  or  go  well  together,  we 
mean,  whether  we  are  conscious  of  it  or  not,  that  they 
possess  in  some  degree  a  common  significance  and 
therefore  concur  in  the  expression  of  a  common  idea. 
Thus  if  we  place  a  long,  low  over-stuffed  sofa  upon  a 
large,  low-toned  rug  each  will  help  the  other  because, 
while  they  do  not  look  alike,  each  suggests  to  the  mind 
the  ideas  of  repose  and  tranquillity.  On  the  other 
hand,  a  small  Aubusson  rug,  or  a  little  Kermanshah, 
with  its  light,  gay  colors  and  spirited  design,  could 
not  help  such  a  sofa,  because  by  its  very  nature  it 
suggests  the  ideas  of  animation  and  buoyancy.  Used 

25 


The  Principles  of  Interior  Decoration 

together  rug  and  sofa  would  oppose  or  contradict 
each  other,  and  only  a  meaningless  confusion  of  ideas 
could  result. 


FIGURE  3. — The  long  low  davenport  arouses  in  the  mind  a 
sense  of  repose  and  tranquillity.  A  large  low-toned  rug  or 
carpet  (A)  suggests  the  same  ideas;  while  a  small  light  rug  (B), 
especially  when  it  reveals  a  pattern  made  up  of  spirited  curves, 
suggests  the  contrary  ideas  of  animation  and  buoyancy. 

It  appears,  therefore,  that  in  order  to  make  the 
furnishings  of  a  room  harmonize,  or  help  each  other, 
the  decorator  must  see  to  it  that  they  concur  in  the 

26 


The  Grammar  of  Decoration 

expression  of  a  common  idea.  Accordingly  he  must 
first  of  all  decide  upon  a  dominant  idea  to  be  ex- 
pressed by  the  finished  room.  Having  done  so,  he 
must  choose  and  combine  in  the  room  such  things  as 
suggest  or  help  to  affirm  that  idea,  and  keep  out  any 
considerable  number  of  things  that  suggest  an  inhar- 
monious or  contrary  idea.  This  is  the  beginning  of 
every  process  of  decorative  composition.  To  under- 
take it  successfully  the  decorator  must  know,  first,  what 
ideas,  or  what  kind  of  ideas,  can  be  expressed  by  his 
art,  and  secondly,  how  they  can  be  expressed. 

It  is  clear  that  interior  decoration,  being  a  part 
of  architecture,  can  neither  set  forth  an  appearance  of 
nature,  as  can  painting  and  sculpture,  nor  tell  a  story, 
like  poetry  or  the  drama.  Nor  can  it,  like  music  or 
the  dance,  express  complex  and  changing  emotional 
states.  It  can,  however,  adequately  express  simple 
emotional  ideas  ranging  through  a  fairly  long  gamut. 
Thus  a  room  may  be  made  bright  or  somber,  grave  or 
gay.  Given  a  suitable  architectural  background,  the 
decorator  can  create  at  will  a  restful  living  room,  a 
gay  and  brilliant  ball-room,  a  solemn  church  or  lodge- 
room.  Rooms  may  be  made  dignified,  sumptuous, 
simple,  informal.  Their  emotional  quality  may  be 
varied  from  repose  to  animation,  from  stateliness  to 
abandon,  from  rough  homeliness  to  elegance  or  dainti- 
ness. Obviously  the  choice  of  the  dominant  emotional 
idea  for  a  given  room  will  be  determined  in  practice 
chiefly  by  such  considerations  of  fitness  as  the  purpose 
of  the  room  and  the  tastes  of  its  occupants.  The  point 
to  be  pressed  here  is  that,  however  chosen,  some  defin- 

27 


The  Principles  of  Interior  Decoration 

able  emotional  idea  must  underlie  and  condition  the 
decoration  of  every  artistically  furnished  room.  Good 
composition,  in  decoration  no  less  than  in  the  other 
creative  arts,  can  never  be  fortuitous — never  the  prod- 
uct of  chance  or  the  play  of  circumstance.  However 
simple  or  complex  its  processes,  it  must  always  result 
in  expression.  Every  great  composition  in  any  art  is 
thus  built  upon  a  motive,  in  the  expression  of  which 
all  its  chief  lines,  colors  or  sounds  concur,  as  the 
sweeping  diagonals  and  vigorous  curves  of  the  Winged 
Victory  of  Samothrace  concur  in  investing  even  the 
broken  remnant  of  the  figure  with  the  idea  of  imperious 
and  triumphant  motion. 

A  room,  however,  unlike  a  picture  or  a  sculptured 
form,  is  not  complete  in  itself.  It  is  complete  only 
when  there  are  people  in  it.  and  it  is  decorated  not  alone 
to  make  it  harmonious  and  beautiful,  but  also — and 
primarily — to  make  it  a  sympathetic  and  pleasing  back- 
ground for  the  people  who  use  it.  For  this  reason  its 
emotional  quality  must  not  be  too  strongly  emphasized, 
lest  there  be  lack  of  harmony  with  the  changing  moods 
of  its  occupants.  Nevertheless  every  beautiful  room, 
as  the  first  condition  of  its  being,  must  be  built  around 
a  dominant  motive,  and  a  great  part  of  whatever  sub- 
tlety and  charm  its  decorative  treatment  may  possess  for 
the  person  of  cultivated  taste  will  depend  upon  the 
skill  with  which  this  motive  is  expressed.  The  child  is 
happy  with  his  blocks;  delighted  when  he  is  able  to 
find  among  two  dozen  strange  and  meaningless  char- 
acters the  big  I  or  O  or  S  that  he  has  been  taught  to 
recognize;  content  to  put  the  letters  together  into  a 

28 


The  Grammar  of  Decoration 

meaningless  jumble.  But  when  he  grows  older  he  will 
want  to  see  meaning  in  things.  Letters  will  interest 
him  because  they  are  symbols  with  which  words  are 
formed,  and  words  because  they  in  turn  are  symbols 
which,  properly  grouped,  give  expression  to  ideas.  It 
is  the  same  with  man  and  his  house.  A  man  may 
choose  and  arrange  the  furnishings  of  his  rooms  with- 
out reference  to  their  significance  because,  like  the 
child  with  his  blocks,  he  does  not  understand  their  sig- 
nificance. But  in  so  far  as  interior  decoration  is  a  real 
creative  art  it  must  be  concerned  with  the  expression 
of  ideas ;  and  in  so  far  as  a  man  has  in  his  esthetic  per- 
ceptions put  away  childish  things  he  will  be  conscious 
of  these  ideas  and  keenly  interested  in  the  manner  of 
their  expression. 

In  literature  ideas  are  expressed  by  words ;  in  interior 
decoration  by  form  and  color.  Form  itself,  as  a  mode 
of  expression,  possesses  an  emotional  significance,  and 
so  does  color  merely  as  color.  Each  hue  has  a  peculiar 
effect  upon  the  mind.  The  light  tones  of  every  hue 
differ  in  emotional  quality  from  the  dark.  Pure  colors 
differ  from  neutral,  and  simple  colors  from  compounds. 
Each  type  of  line  tends  to  arouse  a  distinctive  emotion 
in  the  mind,  according  to  its  character  and  its  direction. 
Each  of  the  elementary  geometrical  forms  upon  which 
decorative  composition  so  largely  rests  possesses  its 
proper  emotional  significance.  The  mind  is  affected  by 
relative  size  and  bulk,  by  proportion,  by  balance  or  the 
lack  of  it,  by  contrast,  by  every  factor  employed  by  the 
decorator  in  the  practical  processes  of  housefurnishing. 

These  varying  emotional  values  of  form  and  color 

29 


The  Principles  of  Interior  Decoration 

constitute  the  words  of  the  language  of  decoration,  and 
the  science  of  their  function  and  artistic  employment 
constitutes  what  we  may  well  call  its  grammar.  Obvi- 
ously the  grammar  must  be  mastered  before  the  work 
of  composition  can  be  undertaken  successfully.  In 
order  to  select  and  combine  decorative  factors  of  like 
significance  we  must  first  understand  the  significance  of 
each  individual  factor.  When  the  emotional  value  of 
each  type  of  line,  form,  hue  and  tone  has  been  clearly 
grasped,  whatever  decorative  motive  has  been  chosen 
for  the  room  will  at  once  call  up  into  the  mind  the 
particular  types  of  form  and  color  that  best  express  or 
suggest  that  motive.  In  practice  the  decorator  will 
then  develop  his  motive  artistically,  according  to  meth- 
ods to  be  studied  in  later  chapters,  by  grouping  with 
these  types  others  more  or  less  like  them  in  significance. 

Form  and  color,  the  two  media  of  decorative  expres- 
sion, are  essentially  unlike.  Form  is  intellectual,  color 
emotional.  Form  requires  a  mental  process  for  its 
apprehension.  Color  requires  none,  and  therefore 
makes  a  wider,  more  instant,  and  more  powerful  ap- 
peal. 

Man's  attitude  toward  form  and  color  has  always 
been  influenced  by  his  philosophy.  In  the  Orient  color 
is  dominant,  because  there  the  soul  is  regarded  as  the 
source  of  knowledge.  In  the  Occident,  where  under 
the  influence  of  Greek  philosophy  the  mind  is  regarded 
as  the  source  of  knowledge,  form  is  dominant.  The 
Greeks  attained  to  an  incomparable  perfection  of 
form;  they  used  color  merely  to  outline  and  to  embel- 
lish. The  Orientals,  on  the  other  hand,  though  they 

30 


The  Grammar  of  Decoration 

have  created  forms  of  exquisite  and  imperishable  love- 
liness, have  in  all  ages  used  color  not  as  the  hand- 
maiden of  form,  but  for  the  sake  of  its  own  beauty  and 
the  subtle  spell  it  casts  upon  the  soul. 

Only  once  in  historic  times  has  color  been  dominant 
in  Europe.  During  the  Middle  Ages,  under  the  sway  of 
early  Christianity,  man's  soul  became  his  chief  con- 
cern, and  the  mysticism  of  the  age  found  immediate 
expression  in  color.  From  the  ninth  to  the  thir- 
teenth centuries  there  was  everywhere  evident — in  the 
dress  of  the  common  people,  the  gay  costumes  of  the 
nobles,  the  gorgeous  trappings  of  chivalry  and  the 
rich  colorings  of  the  medieval  houses,  as  in  the  glow 
of  stained  glass  and  the  red  and  gold  of  the  cathedrals 
— the  same  passion  for  color  that  has  in  all  ages 
moved  the  East.  The  passion  passed,  of  course,  with 
the  religious  and  philosophical  conditions  which  helped 
to  create  it.  Toward  the  beginning  of  the  modern 
period,  with  the  approach  of  the  Renaissance  or  re- 
birth of  the  spirit  of  the  Greeks,  mysticism  died  out, 
and  with  it  color  yielded  place  to  form. 

After  the  lapse  of  centuries  the  pendulum  seems  to 
be  starting  to  swing  in  the  other  direction.  Certainly 
two  tendencies  are  everywhere  evident  in  the  western 
world  to-day.  On  the  one  hand,  we  see  a  remarkable 
increase  in  the  use  of  color,  and  of  richer  and  more 
stimulating  color ;  on  the  other  hand,  the  decline  of  in- 
tellectualism,  and  the  slow  breaking-up  of  the  purely 
scientific  and  materialistic  ideals  by  which  we  have 
so  long  been  actuated.  The  spirit  of  mysticism  is  com- 
ing back  into  the  world ;  not  only  contemporary  litera- 

31 


The  Principles  of  Interior  Decoration 

ture,  but  contemporary  music  and  painting-  are  more 
and  more  tinged  by  it.  And  with  mysticism  there  is 
coming  a  deeper  and  a  growing  love  of  color,  not  for 
what  it  reveals  and  embellishes,  but  for  its  own  sake. 

In  its  effect  upon  the  mind,  form  is  solid,  hard,  ac- 
tive and  masculine;  while  color  is  fluid,  soft,  passive 
and  feminine.  Form  is  of  course  imperceptible  apart 
from  color,  and  the  two  media  of  expression  are  of 
necessity  used  together  in  every  composition.  The 
relative  emphasis  placed  upon  them,  however,  may  be 
and  certainly  ought  to  be  varied  by  the  decorator  in 
working  out  the  motive  of  his  treatment.  Beyond 
doubt  form  has  in  the  past  been  too  much  emphasized 
in  our  homes,  with  the  result  of  giving  them  not  only 
the  obvious  defects  of  over-ornamentation  and  com- 
plexity, but  also  a  real  though  intangible  effect  of 
hardness  and  ungraciousness.  The  present  marked 
tendency  toward  the  freer  use  of  color  and  the  elim- 
ination of  non-essential  objects  and  patterns  is  there- 
fore a  much-needed  corrective. 

However,  the  primary  concern  of  the  decorator  is 
not  with  the  separation  of  form  and  color,  but  with 
their  convergent  use  in  composition.  Beauty  and  the 
expression  of  emotional  ideas  largely  depend  in  all 
the  arts  upon  the  convergence  of  effects.  Such  a  con- 
vergence is  produced  in  symphonic  music  when  a  pas- 
toral theme  is  announced  in  the  high  passionless  voice 
of  the  oboe,  and  in  the  drama  when  a  speech  is  uttered 
by  an  actor  physically  fitted  and  costumed  for  his 
role.  Pope  exemplifies  the  idea  poetically  in  two 
couplets : 

32 


The  Grammar  of  Decoration 

"Soft  is  the  strain  when  Zephyr  gently  blows, 
And  the  smooth  stream  in  smoother  numbers  flows. 

But  when  loud  surges  lash  the  sounding  shore, 

The  hoarse  rough  verse  should  like  the  torrent  roar." 

This  principle  is  of  basic  importance  in  decoration, 
and  will  be  found,  as  we  proceed  with  this  study,  to 
enter  into  every  problem  of  composition.  No  room 
can  be  beautiful  without  a  convergence  of  decorative 
effects,  and  any  room  will  be  more  or  less  beautiful 
as  the  convergence  is  more  or  less  complete.  What- 
ever is  said  by  the  proportions  of  a  room,  and  by  its 
dominant  lines  and  shapes,  must  be  affirmed,  not  con- 
tradicted, by  its  coloring.  Thus  if  we  make  low  tones 
of  olive,  golden-brown  or  blue  dominant  in  a  long, 
low  room  filled  with  furniture  largely  characterized 
by  horizontal  lines  and  long  low  shapes,  the  mind  is 
convinced  and  satisfied.  But  if  we  treat  such  a  room 
in  a  gay  scheme  of  azure,  rose  and  ivory,  or  if  we 
venture  upon  a  staid  and  somber  coloring  in  a  room 
marked  by  light  yielding  forms  and  gay  upturned 
curves,  the  mind,  perplexed  by  the  pull  of  opposing 
esthetic  forces,  is  dissatisfied,  and  filled  with  the  con- 
sciousness of  confusion  and  hence  of  ugliness. 

In  the  three  following  chapters  we  shall  study  the 
grammar  of  decoration,  and  shall  attempt  to  develop, 
as  fully  as  possible  in  so  limited  a  compass,  the  emo- 
tional significance  or  meaning  of  the  elementary  fac- 
tors of  the  art.  With  the  completion  of  this  task  we 
shall  be  equipped  to  take  up  the  principles  of  compo- 
sition, which  underlie  the  art  of  selecting  and  com- 
bining these  elements  into  artistic  wholes. 

33 


CHAPTER  IV 

LINE  AND  FORM 

IF  the  nose  of  Cleopatra  had  been  shorter,"  ob- 
served  Pascal,    "the   whole    face   of   the   world 
would  have  been  changed."     The  power  of  line 
is  indisputable.     Yet  it  is  clear  that  in  itself  line 
is  a  mere  mathematical  abstraction,  and  that  the  lines 
drawn  by  the  artist  are  after  all  but  marks.     Their 
power  to  move  us  lies  in  something  outside  of  them- 
selves,  and  the  explanation  of  this  power  must  be 
sought,  not  in  lines  and  spatial  forms  as  such,  but  in  the 
nature  of  the  mind. 

Man  is  a  creature  who  lies  prone  when  he  is  asleep 
or  at  rest  and  stands  erect  in  action.  In  a  stern  or 
resistant  mood  he  stands  stiff  and  straight;  in  a  play- 
ful or  happy  mood  he  relaxes,  and  the  lines  of  his 
body  fall  into  easy  curves.  When  he  carries  a  load 
upon  his  shoulder  his  body  bends  into  reciprocal 
curves — slight  curves  if  the  load  is  light,  deeper  and 
more  angular  as  the  load  grows  heavier;  until  finally 
he  stoops  upon  one  knee  the  better  to  bear  up  his  bur- 
den, as  Atlas  stoops  to  bear  up  the  earth.  When  a 
man  is  in  motion  he  bends  forward;  slightly  if  he 
walks,  deeply  if  he  runs.  When  he  encounters  an  op- 
posing force  he  braces  himself  against  it,  and  the 

34 


Line  and  Form 

greater  the  force  the  sharper  will  be  the  angle  of  his 
body  and  the  straighter  the  line  of  it. 

Because  he  has  been  doing  these  things  for  unnum- 
bered generations — because  certain  emotional  states 
always  find  expression  through  definite  positions — 
man  associates  the  emotions  with  the  lines  that  define 
their  accompanying  positions,  so  that  a  given  line  in 
a  work  of  art  has  the  power  to  call  up  into  conscious- 
ness, more  or  less  vividly,  its  concomitant  emotional 
state.  Thus  straight  lines  are  always  associated  with 
the  ideas  of  steadiness  and  force,  and  curved  lines  with 
the  ideas  of  flexibility,  buoyancy  and  grace.  And  be- 
cause horizontal  extension  is  always  associated  with 
the  idea  of  repose,  and  vertical  extension  always  with 
the  ideas  of  life  and  activity,  horizontal  and  vertical 
lines,  whether  straight  or  curved,  always  call  up,  the 
one  ideas  of  calmness  and  repose,  the  other  ideas  of 
activity  and  support.  This  contrast  between  horizon- 
tal and  vertical  extension  is  the  original  factor  in 
visual  esthetics,  and  all  of  what  Professor  Theodor 
Lipps  calls  the  life  quality  (Lebendigkeit)  of  archi- 
tectural and  decorative  forms  grows  out  of  the  inter- 
play of  these  activities  and  is  expressed  by  the  inter- 
play and  contrast  of  horizontal  and  vertical  lines. 

Our  emotions  are  stirred  by  spatial  forms,  whether 
natural  or  artistic,  because  we  project  or  "feel  our- 
selves into"  them.  Not  only  do  we  feel  ourselves  run- 
ning or  straining  with  the  athlete  at  the  games;  we 
feel  ourselves  pushing  upward  with  the  column  and 
striving  upward  with  the  tower.  "The  Discobolus  of 
Myron,"  says  Lipps,  "bows  his  body,  throws  out  his 

35 


The  Principles  of  Interior  Decoration 

arm,  turns  his  head.  Not  the  marble  of  which  the 
statue  consists  does  these  things,  but  the  man  that  the 
statue  represents.  Of  the  man,  however,  nothing  is 
present  in  the  statue  save  the  form — the  man-resem- 
bling spatial  form  (die  menschenahnliche  Raum- 
gestalt)  ;  it  is  simply  that  this  spatial  form  is  in  our 
imagination  filled  with  a  definite  human  life.  The 
marble  is  the  material  of  the  representation;  the  object 
of  the  representation  is  the  life  bound  up  in  the  form." 

Lines  as  they  appear  in  architectural  and  decorative 
design  are  in  character  straight,  curved,  or  broken,  and 
in  direction  horizontal,  vertical,  or  oblique.  In  compo- 
sition the  emotional  significance  of  each  type  tends  to 
be  affirmed  and  intensified  by  the  repetition  of  like 
lines,  and  to  be  contradicted  and  neutralized  by  the 
employment  of  lines  of  an  opposing  type. 

The  first  difference  in  significance  between  straight 
and  curved  lines,  as  Raymond  has  pointed  out,  is  the 
fact  that  the  latter  suggest  the  results  of  instinctive 
action,  while  the  former  suggest  the  results  of  reflective 
action.  Nearly  everything  in  nature,  from  grass  to 
man  himself,  grows  in  curves.  It  is  only  when  man 
starts  to  reflect  and  to  contrive — to  build  temples  and 
tombs  and  engines  of  construction  and  destruction — 
that  straight  lines  appear.  Thus  they  are  inevitably 
associated  with  what  is  thoughtful,  serious,  purposive 
and  austere.  For  this  reason  straight  lines  are  em- 
ployed in  designing  the  structural  elements  of  a  room, 
and  are  emphasized  in  the  design  of  furniture,  rugs  and 
hangings  in  the  degree  that  the  motive  of  the  decorative 
unit  and  of  the  room  as  a  whole  is  serious  or  austere. 

36 


Courtesy  of  the  British  Museum. 


PLATE  IT. — The  Discus  Thrower.  Under  the  law  of 
empathy  (einfiihlung)  we  "feel  ourselves  into"  spatial 
forms,  both  animate  and  inanimate. 


Line  and  Form 

The  Italian  chairs  of  the  early  Renaissance  owed 
their  fine  air  of  virility  and  thoughtful  contrivance 
largely  to  their  straight  lines,  as  do  our  own  Craftsman 
and  Mission  chairs;  but  the  latter,  by  reason  of  their 
exclusive  use  of  such  lines,  reveal  a  quality  of  hardness, 
ungraciousness  and  austerity  from  which  the  former 


FIGURE  4. — The  effect  of  repose  characteristic  of  this  sofa  is 
due  to  its  length  as  opposed  to  its  height.  Its  effect  of  hardness 
and  austerity  is  due  to  the  almost  exclusive  employment  of 
straight  line  in  its  design. 

were  redeemed  by  the  saving  grace  of  carved  finials, 
turned  arm  supports,  and  velvet  or  damask  coverings. 
The  same  quality  of  hardness  through  over-emphasis 
of  straight  lines  is  apparent  in  Kazak,  Bokhara,  Af- 
ghan and  many  other  rugs  woven  by  primitive  Oriental 
peoples,  and  in  primitive  ornament  generally.  As  the 
worker  in  any  art  so  masters  his  technique  that  he  is 
able  to  work  more  or  less  instinctively  he  naturally 

37 


The  Principles  of  Interior  Decoration 

chooses  to  express  himself  more  and  more  through  the 
freedom,  buoyancy  and  grace  of  curved  lines,  and  to 
restrict  his  use  of  straight  lines  to  situations  where 
the  significance  of  his  work  or  its  structural  require- 
ments demand  their  steadiness  and  force.  As  men 
and  races  grow  in  their  power  of  seeing  the  beautiful 
they  demand  an  increasing  degree  of  subtlety  in  all 
forms  of  art — subtler  ideas,  and  subtler  modes  of  ex- 
pression— and  because  straight  lines  are  by  nature 
direct,  unvarying  and  obvious  they  more  and  more 
give  place  to  curves. 

Curved  lines  express  the  ideas  of  flexibility,  soft- 
ness, grace,  and  joyousness,  and  tend  to  impart  these 
qualities  to  any  composition  in  which  they  appear. 
When  over-emphasized  by  too  exclusive  employment, 
as  in  Rococo  ornament  and  in  the  decorative  styles  of 
the  Regency  and  Louis  XV,  they  yield  an  effect  of 
over-luxuriousness,  instability,  and  even  of  weakness. 
When  their  lines  are  short  and  much  broken,  as  in 
Rococo  ornament,  they  suggest  the  mutable  and  tran- 
sient; when  crossed  and  interwoven,  as  in  Celtic  and 
Arabic  ornament,  the  complex,  obscure  and  elusive. 
Sinuous  or  undulating  curves,  as  they  appear  in  the 
guilloche  molding  and  in  the  running  vine  border  of 
Persian  rugs,  suggest  the  idea  of  movement;  and  up- 
turned curves,  particularly  when  their  effect  is  inten- 
sified by  repetition,  the  ideas  of  gayety,  animation  and 
delight,  as  the  corners  of  the  mouth  turn  upward  in  a 
smile.  Wall  papers  and  hangings  in  which  such  curves 
are  emphasized  are  used  to  help  in  creating  an  effect 
of  smiling  animation  in  rooms  that  need  it,  and  all 

38 


Line  and  Form 

festal  decoration  makes  a  very  free  use  of  loops,  fes- 
toons and  swags. 

By  the  free  employment  of  curves  the  decorator  can 
avoid  the  stiffness  and  severity  that  result  from  over- 
emphasis of  straight  lines,  and  give  effects  of  softness, 
grace,  buoyancy  and  richness  to  his  rooms.  Beauty 
of  form,  in  nature  as  in  art,  from  the  single  leaf  to 
the  perfect  human  body,  and  from  the  unadorned  sim- 
plicity of  a  vase  to  the  complex  loveliness  of  the  Taj 
Mahal,  depends  first  of  all  upon  the  power  of  curved 
lines.  Moreover,  it  is  impossible  in  decoration  to  ex- 
press the  full  significance  of  things  that  are  by  nature 
soft,  flexible  or  luxurious  without  the  free  use  of 
curves.  Thus  velvet  draperies  look  a  little  stiff  when 
surmounted  by  straight-lined  lambrequins;  deep-pile 
rugs  lack  something  of  softness  unless  they  reveal 
curved  lines  in  either  field  or  border;  and  the  most 
luxurious  of  over-stuffed  sofas  appear  bulky,  ungrace- 
ful and  a  little  stiff  unless  the  long  straight  lines  of 
their  backs  are  rounded  at  each  end  into  softening 
curves. 

However,  there  is  no  virtue  in  curves  merely  as 
curves.  A  straight  line  is  always  to  be  preferred,  at 
whatever  cost  of  rigidity  and  obviousness,  to  a  weak 
and  meaningless  curve.  The  decorator  cannot  hope 
to  create  beauty,  or  even  to  recognize  its  presence, 
until  he  is  able  to  discriminate  unerringly  between 
curves  that  are  graceful,  subtle  and  yet  vigorous,  and 
curves  awkward,  commonplace  and  unlovely.  Much 
has  been  written  of  curves  and  the  laws  of  curvature, 
but  a  feeling  for  the  beauty  of  curved  lines  must  be 

39 


The  Principles  of  Interior  Decoration 

acquired  through  long  processes  of  observation  and 
comparison,  and  can  in  fact  be  acquired  in  no  other 
way.  Nature  offers  an  unlimited  field  for  study.  The 
petals  of  rose,  iris  or  honeysuckle,  the  stems  and 
branches  of  willow  or  birch,  the  leaves  of  jonquil  or 
cattail  or  palm — all  reveal  curves  of  infinite  variety  and 
exquisite  grace.  The  human  body,  as  it  is  represented 
in  painting  and  sculpture  and  in  books  illustrative  of 
those  arts,  offers  the  most  perfect  examples  of  com- 
position in  curves.  Books  on  architecture  and  historic 
furniture,  and  manuals  of  ornament  and  design  are 
also  valuable.  The  materials  chosen  for  study  and  the 
methods  of  using  them  are  relatively  unimportant, 
provided  only  that  they  afford  the  eye  such  training  as 
will  equip  it  for  instant  and  discriminating  judgment. 
It  is  especially  important  and  especially  difficult  to 
acquire  a  sure  feeling  for  beauty  and  vigor  in  the 
curves  that  define  the  weight-bearing  elements  of  a 
composition ;  for  it  is  to  be  noted  that  while  horizontal 
curves  may  be  employed  freely  and  with  wide  latitude, 
vertical  curves  must  be  designed  with  great  circum- 
spection. Under  the  law  of  empathy  the  mind  "feels 
itself  into"  the  forms  defined  by  curved  lines.  When 
these  lines  are  horizontal,  as  at  the  back  of  a  daven- 
port, or  dependent,  as  in  a  lamp  shade  or  at  the  bottom 
of  a  lambrequin — in  a  word,  when  they  are  supported, 
not  supporting — the  mind  regards  almost  any  pitch  or 
degree  of  curvature  as  reasonable  and  therefore  as 
satisfactory;  but  when  curves  are  bearing  a  load  the 
mind  expects  to  find  the  curvature  adjusted  to  the 
load,  and  is  dissatisfied  and  perturbed  when  this  is 

40 


Line  and  Form 

not  the  case.  For  example,  in  a  well-designed 
eighteenth  century  table  the  light  top  is  supported  by 
slender  legs  having  but  a  slight  cyma  or  line  of  beauty 
curve;  and  this  the  mind  regards  as  suitable  and 
beautiful  because  the  body  of  a  man  bearing  upon 
his  shoulder  one  corner  of  a  light  platform  would  be 
similarly  relaxed  into  slight  but  easy  curves.  There- 
fore light  tables  supported  by  slender  legs  which  de- 
scribe a  deep  curve — and  these  are  exceedingly  com- 
mon— have  for  the  trained  eye  an  exaggerated,  strained 
and  grotesque  appearance,  because  the  sweep  of  the 
curves  appears  to  be  out  of  all  proportion  to  the  load 
borne  by  the  legs.  On  the  other  hand,  the  heavy  tables 
of  the  Italian  and  French  Renaissance  were  supported 
by  end  brackets  revealing  very  deep  curves,  and  this 
the  mind  regards  as  reasonable  and  beautiful  because 
a  man  likewise  heavily  burdened  would  stoop,  with 
his  chest  bent  far  forward  over  his  knees.  Nowhere 
in  decoration  is  there  more  ugliness  than  in  weak,  ex- 
aggerated and  ungraceful  vertical  curves.  Only  by 
long  study  of  both  the  great  and  the  decadent  periods 
of  decorative  art  can  one  acquire  the  power  to  know 
good  from  evil. 

Broken  lines,  by  reason  of  their  sudden  changes, 
suggest  the  ideas  of  life  and  animation.  While  such 
lines  may  appear  as  dentil  moldings  in  cornice,  man- 
tel or  reading  table,  or  in  the  bottom  lines  of  lambre- 
quins, they  have  little  place  in  the  fixed  decorations  of  a 
room — that  is,  in  walls,  openings,  floor  coverings,  hang- 
ings and  the  large  immovable  pieces  of  furniture — 
which  are  by  nature  tranquil  and  relatively  solemn. 

41 


The  Principles  of  Interior  Decoration 

Broken  lines  are  appropriately  used  in  chair  backs, 
screens,  book-blocks  with  a  row  of  books  between,  and 
pillows  that  break  the  long  back  line  of  couch  or 
davenport,  because  it  is  one  of  the  functions  of  these 
light  and  relatively  unimportant  elements  to  give  life 


w^          "   ~>    '  '"•  -"'  "'• '-  •  -'  -  '••'•>'-  ''•'>•    ' •  •  '•   •    •    -  »W"- »-•.'.-  •          /^•M 
Y/-  ~'/^- ~*'^'°'—  <•*•£•  0.,  «^s i'oiio'o*  ="*'^,^i''-:^&t*~  V-'^*^'^i*i^*'AVi1\i";--jSu 


FIGURE  5. — The  legs  of  this  sofa  reveal  a  degree  of  curvature 
too  marked  for  the  weight  they  bear.  The  curves  of  the  back 
are  weak  and  lacking  in  distinction;  those  of  the  front  are  com- 
monplace and  lacking  in  subtlety. 

and  animation  to  a  room.  Broken  lines  are  always  to 
be  used  sparingly,  since  too  many  of  them  perplex 
and  fatigue  the  eye,  and  particular  care  must  be  taken 
to  avoid  any  appearance  of  arithmetical  progression, 
which,  as  in  the  case  of  small  pictures  or  photographs 
so  arranged  that  they  present  a  series  of  steps,  inevi- 
tably catch  the  attention,  lead  it  to  the  top,  and  there 

42 


Line  and  Form 

leave  it  suspended,  thus  destroying  the  poise  and  sym- 
metry of  the  wall.  It  sometimes  happens,  particularly 
in  small  and  inexpensively  built  houses,  that  the  tops 
of  windows  in  the  same  room  are  on  slightly  different 
levels,  so  that  they  present  a  disturbing  effect  of  bro- 
ken and  irregular  line.  Whenever  possible  this  defect 
should  be  corrected  by  the  use  of  a  valance  hung  far 
enough  above  the  lower  window  to  bring  the  apparent 
tops  to  the  same  level. 


FIGURE  6. — The  three  faces  express,  with  remarkable  clear- 
ness, the  ideas  of  calmness,  of  gaiety,  and  of  desolate  sadness. 
These  faces  are  identical  except  for  the  direction  of  the  broken 
lines. 

Broken  lines  may  be  made  to  suggest  ideas  of  gaiety 
or  gravity,  in  the  arrangement  of  mantel,  bookcase 
or  table  ornaments,  or  in  the  arrangement  of  groups  of 
furniture,  according  to  whether  their  tops  form  a  V 
upright  or  inverted.  The  principle  involved,  which  lies 
at  the  basis  of  expression  in  the  visual  arts,  is  illustrated 
in  the  curious  old  drawing  of  Humbert  de  Superville. 

Horizontal  lines  express  the  ideas  of  calmness,  qui- 
escence and  repose;  vertical  lines  of  support,  activity 
and  life.  In  the  degree  that  either  horizontal  or  vertical 

43 


The  Principles  of  Interior  Decoration 

lines  are  long  and  straight  they  add  to  their  primary 
significance  the  ideas  of  permanence  and  dignity. 
Straight  horizontal  lines  give  to  any  composition  in 
which  they  are  dominant  an  effect  of  quietude  and 
duration;  straight  vertical  lines  of  firmness,  and  when 
over-emphasized,  of  stiffness  and  even  of  sternness. 
The  function  and  employment  of  horizontal  and  verti- 
cal extension,  and  of  the  lines  by  which  they  are  defined, 
will  be  developed  in  the  chapter  on  proportion. 

Vertical  lines  tend  to  express  as  well  as  to  arouse 
emotions  of  exaltation  and  inquietude.  Owing  to  the 
relatively  short  length  of  any  lines  inside  a  room  this 
effect  is  rarely  perceptible  except  by  abnormally  sensi- 
tive persons,  but  it  is  clearly  felt  in  monumental  archi- 
tecture. The  Gothic  cathedrals  perfectly  expressed 
the  sentiments  of  inquietude  and  exaltation  that  pos- 
sessed the  soul  of  northern  Europe  in  the  later  Middle 
Ages,  and  they  tend  to  arouse  the  same  emotions  in 
the  soul  of  the  beholder  to-day.  The  feeling  that  takes 
possession  of  one  who  from  the  Hudson  river  sees  the 
shaft-like  buildings  of  lower  New  York  outlined 
against  a  twilight  sky,  or  who  stands  at  the  foot  of 
the  Washington  Monument  or  the  Sather  Tower  at 
Berkeley  and  follows  the  seemingly  endless  verticals 
as  they  appear  to  erect  themselves,  by  sheer  force  of 
aspiration,  heavenward,  is  inspired  by  the  same  power 
of  line. 

Diagonal  lines  suggest  movement  and  action.  Be- 
cause they  are  associated  in  the  mind  with  motion  or 
with  the  effort  to  counterbalance  resistance  they  give 
animation  to  any  composition  in  which  they  appear. 

44 


Line  and  Form 

Over-emphasized,  they  are  restless  and  fatiguing. 
Used  sparingly,  as  when  a  small  poised  figure  like  the 
Flying  Mercury  is  placed  in  a  quiet  corner  of  a  room, 
they  possess  an  extraordinary  charm. 

Unless  too  strongly  emphasized  by  color  contrast 
diagonals  are  often  effective  in  rug  design;  partly  be- 
cause they  are  there  arranged  symmetrically  to  form 
the  medallion,  partly  because  they  are  subordinated  to 
and  restrained  by  the  straight  lines  of  the  border.  They 
are  objectionable  in  all-over  carpets  and  especially 
objectionable  in  wall  papers.  Repetition  of  the  same 
figure  is  a  mechanical  necessity  in  weaving  or  printing 
piece  goods,  and  in  the  very  large  class  of  designs 
technically  known  as  drop  patterns  each  motive  or 
figure  comes  above  and  to  the  right  and  left  of  the 
same  figure  in  each  of  the  adjoining  breadths.  Unless 
the  pattern  is  very  skillfully  drawn  and  colored,  this 
arrangement  is  likely  to  create  a  series  of  diagonals, 
more  or  less  marked  according  to  the  size  and  character 
of  the  design  and  the  vigor  of  the  coloring.  These 
diagonals  give  to  any  room  in  which  they  appear  a 
quality  of  energetic  and  rhythmic  movement  always 
inartistic  and  tiresome  and  often  almost  intolerable. 
It  must  of  course  be  noted  that  this  objection  does  not 
lie  against  patterns  formed  by  intersecting  diagonals 
which  result  in  a  diaper  of  small  diamond  forms  or 
rhombs,  because  the  effect  of  movement  created  by 
the  lines  running  in  one  direction  is  neutralized  by 
the  opposing  lines. 

In  practice  the  decorator  must  also  be  on  guard 
against  inartistic  diagonals  in  choosing  upholstery  fab- 

45 


The  Principles  of  Interior  Decoration 

rics.  It  is  a  common  practice  to  use  a  boldly  designed 
printed  linen  at  the  windows  of  a  room  and  also  as 
slip  covers  for  some  of  the  over-stuffed  furniture. 
Many  of  the  most  strikingly  decorative  linens,  especial- 
ly those  adapted  from  old  Persian  textiles,  contain  a 
sharply  accented  vine  which  runs  obliquely  from  one 
side  of  the  fabric  to  the  other.  This  is  of  course  unob- 
jectionable in  hangings,  because  the  folds  break  the 
movement ;  but  when  the  same  pattern  runs  vigorously 
from  the  bottom  of  one  side  of  a  wide  chair  back  to 
the  top  of  the  other  side  the  effect  is  unpleasing,  be- 
cause it  destroys  the  atmosphere  of  repose  which  it  is 
one  of  the  functions  of  such  a  chair  to  create. 

The  three  dimensions,  height,  width  and  depth,  re- 
spectively suggest  the  ideas  of  spiritual  elevation,  sta- 
bility and  mystery.  When  the  dimensions  of  a  com- 
position are  normal  they  tend  to  neutralize  each  other, 
and  the  mind  is  conscious  of  no  emotional  significance. 
When  any  one  is  over-emphasized  the  value  of  the  other 
two  is  diminished  accordingly.  It  is  almost  never 
desirable  to  over-emphasize  any  dimension  of  a  room; 
the  more  nearly  its  proportions  approximate  those  that 
the  eye  regards  as  normal  the  more  satisfactory  the 
room  will  be.  In  the  choice  of  individual  units,  how- 
ever, the  principle  is  constantly  employed.  Thus  it  is 
impossible  to  produce  through  the  use  of  short,  high 
tables,  chairs  and  cabinets  the  impression  of  stability 
produced  by  long  low  ones;  impossible  to  create  by 
means  of  a  mantel  clock  the  sense  of  elevation — of 
calm  indifference  to  the  hurries  and  anxieties  of  life — 
created  by  a  hall  clock ;  impossible  to  effect  in  any  room 

46 


Line  and  Form 

without  draperies  the  slight  but  intriguing  sense  of 
mystery  and  charm  possessed  by  a  room  with  deep  and 
carefully  arranged  hangings. 

Shapes,  whether  they  appear  as  simple  geometrical 
forms,  or  as  compositions  based  upon  or  roughly  de- 
fined or  outlined  by  such  forms,  possess  emotional 
significances  which  depend  in  part  upon  the  character 
of  their  bounding  lines  and  in  part  upon  their  propor- 
tions. Thus  the  square  suggests  strength  and  solidity 
because  it  combines  equally  the  firmness  and  support 
of  vertical  lines  and  the  repose  of  horizontals.  The 
straight  lines  which  define  it  make  it  obvious,  however, 
while  the  equality  of  its  dimensions  deprives  it  of  subtle- 
ty and  tends  to  make  it  monotonous  and  therefore  of 
limited  value  in  decorative  design.  Square  rooms  are 
for  this  reason  relatively  uninteresting,  and  so  are 
square  wall  spaces,  windows,  and  fireplaces,  and  square 
rugs,  tables,  chairbacks,  bookcases  and  pictures.  What 
is  true  of  the  square  is  of  course  equally  true  of  the 
cube.  Cabinets,  stools,  seats  or  stands  cubical  in  shape 
are  rarely  good-looking,  unless,  as  sometimes  happens, 
their  beauty  of  carving  or  surface  ornament  obscures 
their  tedious  forms;  while  the  big  cubical  chairs  so 
often  seen  are  esthetically  tiresome  and  physically  un- 
comfortable as  well. 

The  oblong  is  the  commonest  form  in  decorative  art, 
where  it  appears  in  floors,  ceilings,  walls,  doors,  and 
windows,  in  rugs,  chairs,  tables,  bookcases  and  books, 
and  in  fact  in  nearly  every  object  of  use  or  ornament. 
Like  the  square,  the  oblong  combines  straight  vertical 
and  horizontal  lines,  which  tend  to  make  it  obvious, 

47 


The  Principles  of  Interior  Decoration 

but  its  extensions  are  never  in  equilibrium  and  the 
form  therefore  possesses  an  interest  lacking  in  the 
simpler  form.  The  beauty  and  decorative  value  of 
oblong  shapes  depends  chiefly  upon  the  subtlety  of 
their  proportions,  and  will  be  discussed  in  the  chapter 
dealing  with  that  subject,  as  will  the  use  of  vertical  or 
horizontal  oblongs  in  the  convergent  expression  of 
emotional  ideas. 

The  triangle  appears  in  decoration  both  as  a  motive 
and  as  a  principle  of  composition.  When  resting  upon 
its  base  it  expresses  a  subtle  quality  of  animation  or 
movement  in  repose — the  two  diagonal  lines  contribut- 
ing the  idea  of  movement  and  its  broad  base,  as  con- 
trasted with  its  pointed  apex,  the  idea  of  repose.  In  the 
isosceles  triangle  the  two  lines  of  movement  are  equal, 
and  the  figure  accordingly  suggests  a  symmetrical  or 
balanced  activity.  It  appears  in  lamp-shades,  mantel 
clocks,  the  pediments  of  bookcases  and  highboys,  and 
the  supports  of  benches  and  tables;  and  as  a  principle 
of  composition  it  is  constantly  employed  by  the  deco- 
rator to  give  an  effect  of  unity  and  balanced  activity  in 
the  arrangement  of  mirror  and  console  table,  chair 
groupings,  and  in  the  disposition  of  pictures,  pottery, 
or  other  small  objects  upon  or  above  cabinets,  mantels 
or  bookcases.  The  isosceles  triangle  resting  upon  its 
point  is  occasionally  employed  in  the  design  of  fabrics 
and  wall  papers,  where  it  yields  an  elusive  effect  of 
flame-like  motion.  The  same  motive  is  frequently 
found  in  Turcoman  rugs,  where  it  symbolizes  the  altars 
of  an  earlier  faith,  and  the  flame  that  anciently  burned 
upon  them. 

48 


Line  and  Form 

Curved  forms  are  easier  to  see  than  those  of  rec- 
tangular outline,  and  are  therefore  in  general  more 
agreeable.  They  vary  in  subtlety  and  in  esthetic  in- 
terest according  to  their  outline.  The  circle,  whose 
bounding  line  forever  returns  upon  itself,  suggests  the 
ideas  of  completeness  and  finality.  This  quality  ren- 
ders it  somewhat  monotonous  when  used  as  a  decor- 
ative unit,  though  it  is  of  great  value  when  used  as 
the  basis  of  repeating  pattern.  In  the  decoration  of 
the  dining  room  the  table  is  of  course  the  focal  point 
—the  motive  to  whose  proper  setting-out  all  other 
decorative  elements  are  subordinated.  And  since  a 
dining  table  is  sufficiently  large  and  massive  to  domi- 
nate the  room  it  often  happens  that  this  very  effect  of 
completeness  makes  a  round  table  more  valuable  deco- 
ratively  than  an  oblong  one.  In  the  living  room,  on  the 
contrary,  large  round  tables  are  ordinarily  objec- 
tionable, not  only  by  reason  of  the  lack  of  subtlety  in 
their  proportions,  but  also  because  they  are  out  of 
harmony  with  the  prevailing  oblongs,  being  unlike 
them  both  in  outline  and  in  proportions.  For  the  same 
reason  circular  mirrors,  pictures  and  other  wall  orna- 
ments do  not  compose  well  with  the  wall  spaces.  This 
objection  does  not  apply,  of  course,  to  small  occa- 
sional tables  and  other  little  circular  forms  which  make 
themselves  felt  only  as  piquant  accents  in  the  general 
composition  of  the  room;  but  in  the  design  of  larger 
units  the  circle  is  normally  employed  only  as  a  device 
for  securing  emphasis  through  contrast. 

The  ellipse  and  the  oval  have  a  longer  and  a  shorter 
axis,  and  therefore  bear  the  same  relation  to  the  circle 

49 


The  Principles  of  Interior  Decoration 

that  the  oblong  bears  to  the  square.  They  are  more 
agreeable  than  the  circle  physiologically  because,  owing 
to  the  peculiar  construction  of  the  eyes,  they  are  physi- 
cally easier  to  see.  They  are  far  more  agreeable  emo- 
tionally, in  part  because  of  the  subtlety  inherent  in  the 
constant  change  of  direction  of  their  bounding  lines, 
and  in  part  because  there  is  in  the  rhythmic  alternation 
of  these  changes,  and  in  the  symmetrical  swell  and 
subsidence  of  the  forms  themselves,  a  hint  of  the  my- 
sterious dualism  of  life — of  the  flow  and  ebb,  systole 
and  diastole,  inspiration  and  aspiration  whence  arises 
that  sense  of  harmonious  completeness  which  is  the 
basic  esthetic  condition. 


CHAPTER  V 

COLOR 

COLOR  covers  everything,  outlining  and  em- 
phasizing shapes  and  making  them  easy  to 
see.  Its  wide  distribution,  instant  appeal,  and 
powerful  emotional  effect  made  it  a  dominant 
element  in  the  language  of  decoration.  Delight  in  color 
is  a  universal  human  characteristic,  found  among  the 
most  primitive  as  well  as  among  the  most  highly  cul- 
tivated peoples.  It  has  been  a  factor  of  importance  in 
both  biological  and  social  evolution,  and  is  doubtless 
destined  to  be  an  even  more  important  factor  in  the 
cultural  evolution  of  the  future.  Having  the  power 
to  arouse  or  to  sooth,  to  cheer  or  to  depress,  color 
largely  creates  the  atmosphere,  the  in-dwelling  and 
pervading  influence,  of  our  homes.  By  color  our  rooms 
are  made  grave  or  gay,  warm  or  cool,  suave,  sympa- 
thetic or  repellent. 

Color  is  a  property  of  light.  When  the  light  goes 
out  color  goes  with  it.  Sitting  in  a  drawing  room  as 
afternoon  passes  into  evening,  we  see  the  rich  and 
glowing  colors  of  textiles,  pictures  and  porcelains  lose 
first  their  brilliancy,  then  their  distinctive  hues,  and 
finally  disappear  altogether,  as  a  flaming  sunset  fades 
into  gray  and  deadens  into  black. 

51 


The  Principles  of  Interior  Decoration 

Solar  energy  reaches  the  earth  in  the  form  of  ether 
vibrations  of  varying  wave-length.  Those  which  fall 
between  certain  maximum  and  minimum  limits  affect 
the  nerves  of  the  eye  and  yield  the  sensations  of  color. 
The  white  light  of  the  sun  is  made  up  of  a  great  num- 
ber of  rays  so  blended  as  to  yield  no  sensation  of 
color.  If,  however,  a  beam  of  white  light  be  passed 
through  a  prism  it  is  broken  down  into  its  constituent 
elements,  which  appear  as  separate  bands  of  colored 
light.  Some  surfaces,  illumined  by  white  light,  reflect 
practically  all  the  rays,  and  therefore  appear  to  be 
white.  Other  surfaces  absorb  practically  all  the  rays 
and  reflect  none,  and  therefore  appear  to  be  black. 
Most  surfaces,  however,  absorb  all  the  rays  except  those 
which  yield  a  single  color  sensation,  and  therefore  ap- 
pear to  be  of  that  color.  Thus  a  blue  ribbon  is  a  rib- 
bon which  absorbs  all  the  rays  except  blue.  Most  sur- 
faces, moreover,  reflect  not  only  a  characteristic  col- 
ored light  but  also  a  greater  or  less  amount  of  white 
light,  so  that  a  blue  ribbon  may  be  so  light  as  to  appear 
almost  white,  or  so  dark  as  to  appear  almost  black. 

The  light  rays,  as  they  are  reflected  by  all  the  sur- 
faces within  the  field  of  vision,  are  received  by  the 
eye  and  focused  upon  the  retina,  a  recording  apparatus 
of  incomprehensible  fineness  and  complexity,  made  up 
of  millions  of  nerves  which  appear  under  the  micro- 
scope in  the  form  of  infinitesimal  rods  and  cones,  each 
of  which  is  connected  with  the  optic  nerve  leading  to 
the  brain.  Just  what  takes  place  in  the  eye  when  light 
enters  it  is  not  known,  but  there  is  reason  to  believe  that 
while  the  rods  are  chiefly  sensitive  to  white  light  the 

52 


Color 

cones  are  sensitive  to  vibrations  of  definite  wave-lengths 
only,  and  are  thus  capable  of  communicating  to  the 
brain  a  definite  color  sensation.  When  the  cones  nor- 
mally affected  by  vibrations  of  a  given  wave-length  are 
absent  or  fail  to  function  properly  the  corresponding 
color  sensation  cannot  be  registered  in  the  brain,  and 
the  person  whose  eye  is  so  constructed  is  color  blind. 
The  color  nerves  tire  quickly.  When  the  eye  is  com- 
pelled to  gaze  at  the  same  hue  for  some  time  the  nerves 
employed  become  tired  and  incapable  of  a  vivid  sensa- 
tion, as  every  one  has  noticed  in  matching  colors. 
They  must  be  relieved  temporarily  by  another  set  of 
nerves — a  fact  that  shows  the  physical  basis  for  the 
esthetic  need  of  variety  in  color  composition. 

The  study  of  color  is  made  more  difficult  by  the  fact 
color  phenomena  are  investigated  and  described  in 
terms  of  colored  light  by  the  physicist,  and  in  terms  of 
pigments  by  the  artist  and  color  worker.  The  scien- 
tist, passing  a  ray  of  light  through  a  spectroscope,  finds 
that  it  is  broken  down  into  a  flat  band  of  color  con- 
taining more  than  a  thousand  hues,  with  red  at  one 
end  and  violet  at  the  other;  that  these  hues  stand  in 
definite  relationships  to  each  other;  and  that  they  be- 
have in  certain  ways  when  variously  combined. 

The  artist,  however,  does  not  work  with  colored 
lights,  but  with  pigments,  which  lack  the  power  of 
complete  absorption  and  therefore  yield  results  different 
from  those  obtained  when  working  with  light.  Since 
we  are  concerned  in  interior  decoration  almost  ex- 
clusively with  the  pigment  colors,  and  are  in  fact  con- 
cerned primarily  with  color  perception  and  only  inci- 

53 


The  Principles  of  Interior  Decoration 

dentally  with  color  theory,  it  seems  wiser  in  the  brief 
study  of  color  to  be  included  in  this  volume  to  follow 
— with  reservations — Chevreul  and  the  older  colorists. 
This  method  will  afford  the  easiest  and  most  simple 
approach  to  the  subject,  and  the  most  helpful  results  in 
practice.  The  student  v/ho  wants  an  accurate  knowl- 
edge of  the  scientific  theories  of  color  can  consult 
Rood,  Von  Bezold  and  Luckiesh. 

There  are  three  pigmental  hues  which  cannot  be 
produced  by  any  admixture  of  other  colors,  but  which 
are  themselves  capable  of  producing,  in  conjunction 
with  black  and  white,  all  other  colors.  These  three 
colors,  which  for  this  reason  are  called  the  primaries, 
are  red,  yellow  and  blue.  Being  as  unlike  as  possible, 
they  may,  for  the  sake  of  clearness  in  color  study,  be 
conceived  as  lying  at  the  points  of  an  equilateral  tri- 
angle inscribed  within  the  circumference  of  a  circle, 
as  in  Figure  7.  Any  two  of  the  primaries  can  be 
mixed  to  form  a  third  color  which  partakes  equally  of 
the  qualities  of  its  constituent  primaries.  Thus  red 
and  yellow  yield  orange,  yellow  and  blue  yield  green, 
and  blue  and  red  yield  violet.  These  resultant  hues, 
which  are  called  the  secondaries,  or  binaries,  will  ac- 
cordingly lie  midway  between  the  two  primaries  which 
unite  to  form  them  and  directly  opposite  the  third 
primary  on  the  chromatic  circle. 

Instead  of  uniting  any  two  of  the  primaries  to  form 
binaries,  or  colors  partaking  equally  of  the  qualities 
of  their  components,  we  can  of  course  unite  them  in 
different  proportions  to  form  other  hues  partaking 
unequally  of  these  qualities.  Thus  red  can  be  made 

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Color 

dominant  in  a  mixture  of  red  and  yellow  in  a  degree 
that  will  produce  red-orange,  a  color  sharing  equally 
the  qualities  of  red  and  of  orange,  and  therefore  prop- 
erly lying  midway  between  those  colors  on  the  chro- 
matic circle.  Similarly,  yellow  may  be  made  dominant 
in  a  degree  to  form  yellow-orange,  lying  midway  be- 
tween orange  and  yellow.  This  process  can  be  con- 
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FIGURE  7.  —  The  three  primaries,  red,  yellow  and  blue,  and  the 
binaries,  orange,  green  and  violet;  the  chromatic  circle,  showing 
a  sequence  of  twelve  hues. 

primaries  can  be  united  in  any  proportions  whatever, 
thus  obtaining  in  theory  an  infinity  of  hues  differing  by 
infinitesimal  gradations.  Most  of  these  hues  have  not 
been  standardized  or  named.  Chevreul,  the  pioneer 
in  color  theory,  divided  the  chromatic  circle  into  seven- 
ty-two parts.  Ridgeway,  whose  Color  Standards  and 
Nomenclature  is  an  extraordinarily  painstaking  and 
most  valuable  work,  makes  a  division  of  the  spectrum 
hues  —  including  those  hues  between  violet  and  red, 
which  do  not  appear  in  the  solar  spectrum  —  into  thirty- 

55 


The  Principles  of  Interior  Decoration 


six  colors,  which  are  here  given  in  their  order  from 
red  through  orange,  yellow,  green,  blue,  violet  and 
back  to  red.  The  letters  R,  O-R,  OO-R,  and  so  on, 
indicate  the  proper  positions  of  the  hues  in  the  circle, 
as  well  as  the  relative  proportions  of  the  two  compo- 
nents in  each  hue.  The  names  are  those  employed 
by  the  author. 


Red         Spectrum  red  B-G 

O-R          Scarlet  red  BB-G 

OO-R      Scarlet  G-B 

R-O          Grenadine  red  BG-B 

OR-O       Flame  scarlet  GrBB 

Orange    Orange  chrome  Blue 
OY-O      Cadmium  orange 
Y-O         Orange  (the  color  of 

the  fruit)  BV-B 
O-Y         Cadmium  yellow  V-B 
YO-Y      Light  cadmium 
O-YY      Lemon  chrome 
Yellow     Lemon  yellow  B-V 
YG-Y       Greenish  yellow  VB-V 
G-Y          Bright  green  yellow  Violet 
GG-Y       Neva  green 
Y-G         Yellow  green  (slight- 
ly lighter  than  Cos-  VR-V 
sack)  R-V 
GY-G      Night  green  RR-V 
Green      Emerald  green  V-R 
GB-G      Vivid  green  (slightly  RV-R 
lighter   than   Vari-  V-RR 
dian ;    lighter    than 
Chrysoprase) 


Skobeloff  green 

Benzol   green 

Italian  blue 

Cerulean  blue 

Methyl  blue 

Spectrum  blue  (lighter 
in  tone  than  ultrama- 
rine) 

Bradley's  blue 

Phenyl  blue  (slightly 
lighter  than  Smalt 
blue) 

Blue   violet 

Bluish   violet 

Spectrum  violet  (slight- 
ly lighter  than  royal 
purple) 

Amethyst  violet 

Violet  purple 

Purple    (true) 

Rhodamine   purple 

Tyrian  rose 

Rose  red  (slightly  light- 
er than  pomegranate; 
slightly  darker  than 
rose  color) 


Each  hue  thus  formed  by  the  mixture  of  two  pri- 
maries, in  whatever  proportions,  will  have  the  same 
intensity  as  the  primaries  themselves;  and  since  these 
pure  colors  are  intolerable  except  in  the  smallest  areas, 
we  must  in  color  work  change  their  character  by  adding 

56 


Color 


black,  white,  or  gray,  or  by  neutralization  through  the 
use  of  complementaries.  Thus,  by  adding  a  little 
black  to  each  color  in  the  chromatic  circle  we  obtain 
a  new  circle  of  colors,  slightly  darker  and  duller  than 
the  original  hues.  By  adding  a  little  more  black  we 
obtain  a  second  circle,  still  darker  and  more  dull;  and 
this  process  can  be  continued  until  the  amount  of  black 
in  the  mixture  renders  the  original  hues  practically  in- 
distinguishable. Another  series  can  be  produced  by 
adding  white  in  progressively  increasing  quantities  to 
the  spectrum  hues,  up  to  the  point  where  the  original 
colors  become  the  palest  of  tints  and  practically  in- 
distinguishable, like  the  colors  on  the  inside  of  a  shell. 
Chevreul,  in  the  color  plates  included  in  Des  Couleurs, 
makes  the  change  by  regular  ten  per  cent,  increases  in 
the  quantity  of  black  or  white.  Ridgeway  gives  a 
typical  eight  interval  scale,  starting  with  spectrum  red 
and  ranging  downward  to  black  and  upward  to  white : 


Percentages 

lone 

White 

Red 

Black 

White 

100 

Hermosa  pink 

45 

55 

Eosine  pink 

22.5 

77.5 

Begonia  rose 

9.5 

90.5 

Spectrum  red 

100 

Carmine 

55 

45 

Oxblood  red 

29.5 

70.5 

Victoria  lake 

12.5 

87.5 

Black 

100 

In  addition  to  these  scales  produced  by  the  addition 
of  varying  quantities  of  black  or  white  to  the  spectrum 

57 


The  Principles  of  Interior  Decoration 


hues,  we  can  produce  new  colors  by  adding  to  each  of 
the  spectrum  hues  definite  and  increasing  amounts  of 
neutral  gray,  the  effect  of  these  additions  being,  not  to 
make  the  colors  increasingly  darker  or  lighter,  but 
rather  to  make  them  increasingly  less  pure  and  more 
grayish.  The  table  below,  which,  together  with  the 
one  that  follows,  is  also  taken  from  Ridgeway's  work, 
illustrates  the  process  as  applied  to  spectrum  red: 


Color  name 

Percentages 

Red 

Neutral  gray 

Spectrum  red 
Eugenia  red 
Dark  vinaceous  red 
Livid  brown 
Purple  drab 
Neutral  gray 

100 
68 
42 
23 
10 

32 
58 
77 
90 
100 

Using  any  one  of  these  grayed-out  variants  of  the 
spectrum  hues  as  a  base  we  can  in  turn  construct  a 
new  scale  ranging  in  value  from  black  upward  to  white : 


White 
Venetian    pink 

Alizarine    pink 

Old   rose 
Eugenia  red 
Acajou  red 
Vandyke    red 
Hay's    maroon 

White 
Pale   vinaceous 

Vinaceous 

Deep  vinaceous 
Dark    vinaceous 
Hydrangea   red 
Mineral    red 
Dark  mineral  red 

White 
Pale    purplish 
vinaceous 
Light    purplish 
vinaceous 
Purplish    vinaceous 
Livid   brown 
Deep  livid  brown 
Dark  livid  brown 
Warm    blackish 
brown 

White 
Pallid  purple  drab 

Pale   purple  drab 
Light    purple   drab 
Purple   drab 
Dark    purple    drab 
Dusky    brown 
Blackish  brown 

Black 


Black 


Black 


If  we  take  a  considerable  quantity  of  orange  cad- 
mium paint  and  add  to  it  a  very  small  amount  of  ultra- 
marine blue,  the  orange  will  immediately  lose  a  little 
of  its  purity  and  become  slightly  more  grayish,  and  it 

58 


Color 

will  continue  to  grow  progressively  less  orange  and 
more  gray  as  the  amount  of  blue  in  the  mixture  is 
progressively  increased,  until  finally  all  trace  of  orange 
disappears  and  nothing  remains  but  a  neutral  gray. 
Any  two  hues  which  thus  complete  each  other  in  the 
production  of  neutral  gray  are  called  complementary 
colors.  In  the  chromatic  circle  each  one  of  a  pair  of 
complementaries  lies  directly  opposite  the  other,  since 
each  is  made  up  of  a  hue  or  hues  which  have  no  part 
in  the  composition  of  the  other. 

It  is  obvious  that  a  pair  of  complementary  colors 
will  neutralize  each  other  completely — that  is,  they 
will  unite  to  form  a  colorless  gray — only  when  they 
are  mixed  in  a  certain  proportion,  and  that  when  they 
are  mixed  in  any  other  proportion  the  result  will  not 
be  a  neutral  gray,  but  a  more  or  less  grayish  tone  of 
the  hue  which  is  in  excess  in  the  mixture.  An  un- 
limited variation  in  these  stages  of  neutralization  is 
therefore  possible,  but  for  the  sake  of  clearness  three 
stages  are  ordinarily  recognized  in  decorative  practice. 
Thus  we  speak  of  full  intensity  colors,  and  of  colors 
of  three-fourth,  one-half  and  one-fourth  intensity. 
The  resulting  colors  are  in  intensity  the  same  as 
would  be  produced  by  the  addition  to  the  spectrum  hues 
of  one,  two,  and  three  parts  of  neutral  gray.  Thus 
the  pure  scarlet  of  the  spectrum  becomes,  when  reduced 
to  three- fourths  intensity,  coral  red.  When  reduced  to 
one-half  intensity  it  becomes  Etruscan  red;  while  at 
one-fourth  intensity  it  is  a  deep  brownish  mauve. 

It  is  clear  from  the  preceding  discussion  that  the 
colors  differ  from  each  other  in  several  ways,  and  that 

59 


The  Principles  of  Interior  Decoration 

to  speak  of  a  color  as  red,  or  blue,  or  violet  is  to  com- 
municate to  the  mind  of  the  auditor  a  very  incomplete 
and  inaccurate  idea  of  the  real  nature  of  the  color. 
In  fact  a  color,  in  order  to  be  accurately  characterized, 
must  be  described  in  terms  of  three  different  attributes, 
called  the  color  constants.  These  constants  are  hue, 
purity  or  intensity,  and  luminosity  or  value. 

Hue  is  that  property  of  a  color  which  depends  upon 
its  optical  composition,  and  determines  its  position  in 
the  chromatic  circle.  Thus  red,  orange,  yellow-green, 
blue-violet  and  purple  are  hues.  Normal  hues  are  hues 
which  approach  as  closely  as  possible  in  pigments  to 
the  colors  of  the  solar  spectrum.  Emerald  is  the  nor- 
mal hue  of  green,  and  grenadine  red  the  normal  hue 
of  red-orange.  Colors  which  are  darker  than  the 
normal  hue  are  called  dark  colors;  those  which  are 
lighter  than  the  normal  are  called  light  colors.  Those 
variations  of  a  hue  which  are  produced  by  the  addition 
of  black  to  the  normal  are  called  shades  of  that  hue; 
while  those  formed  by  the  addition  of  white  are  called 
tints  of  the  hue.  Thus  carmine  is  a  shade  of  red  and 
begonia  rose  is  a  tint  of  red. 

The  purity  or  intensity  of  a  color  depends  upon  its 
relative  freedom  from  white  light.  Purity  therefore 
expresses  the  amount  or  degree  of  the  hue  present,  as 
distinguished  from  the  total  amount  of  light,  both  white 
and  colored,  present.  While  no  pigments  are  wholly 
free  from  white  light,  the  normal  hues  are  called  pure. 
They  lose  purity  as  they  are  progressively  neutralized 
by  union  with  their  complementaries,  or  degraded  by 
the  admixture  of  black,  white  or  neutral  gray.  Thus 

60 


Color 

garnet,  la  France,  and  jasper  red  are  impure  variants 
of  scarlet-red,  formed  respectively  by  the  addition  of 
black,  white  and  neutral  gray  to  the  normal. 

Luminosity  or  value  is  that  characteristic  of  a  color 
which  depends  upon  the  total  amount  of  light,  both 
colored  and  white,  reflected  to  the  eye.  Value,  in 
painting  and  the  allied  arts,  is  defined  by  the  Century 
dictionary  as  the  relation  of  one  object,  part  or  atmos- 
pheric plane  of  a  picture  to  the  others  with  reference 
to  light  and  shade,  the  idea  of  hue  being  abstracted. 
Thus  normal  yellow,  though  it  is  identical  with  normal 
red  in  purity,  exceeds  it  in  luminosity.  White  exceeds 
all  the  hues  in  luminosity,  while  the  tints  of  any  hue  are 
more  luminous  than  its  shades,  in  direct  proportion  to 
the  white  in  the  mixture,  and  without  any  reference  to 
the  relative  purity  or  neutrality  of  the  hue.  The  value 
of  a  given  color  may  be  determined  by  comparing  it 
with  a  scale  of  neutral  grays,  ranging  from  black  with 
a  value  of  o  to  white  with  a  value  of  100;  or,  roughly, 
with  the  gamut  black,  dark-gray,  gray,  light-gray  and 
white. 

Variations  in  the  luminosity  or  brightness  of  a  color 
are  called  tones  of  that  color.  The  summer  sky,  sur- 
veyed from  horizon  to  zenith,  reveals  numberless  tones 
of  blue,  as  a  distant  forest  or  a  field  of  young  grain 
reveal  numberless  tones  of  green  or  yellow-green. 
This  usage  of  the  word  tone  must  be  carefully  noted, 
for  it  will  be  constantly  and  consistently  employed.  It 
differs  from  the  usage  of  painters,  who  ordinarily  em- 
ploy the  word  tone  to  express  similarity  of  tone,  or  the 
prevalence  of  .like  tones. 

61 


The  Principles  of  Interior  Decoration 

It  is  in  fact  imperative  that  the  reader  who  desires 
to  understand  the  discussion  of  color  included  in  this 
study  of  interior  decoration  accept  the  few  definitions 
of  color  terms  precisely  as  they  are  stated.  Definitions 
are  absolutely  necessary  to  clear  concepts,  and  inas- 
much as  writers  on  color  habitually  use  its  terms  with 
varying  connotations,  the  words  employed  in  this 
volume  with  one  significance  may  be  encountered  else- 
where with  another.  The  study  of  color  is  perplexing 
at  best.  It  becomes  unintelligible  when  there  is  any 
doubt  as  to  the  meaning  of  the  terms  employed. 

The  unscientific  and  confusing  system  of  color  no- 
menclature is,  unhappily,  a  source  of  perplexities  which 
no  care  can  unravel.  Color  has  always  been  more  a 
matter  of  fancy  and  of  fashion  than  of  exact  knowl- 
edge, and  as  a  result  the  hundreds  of  color  names  used 
in  the  arts  have  been  drawn  indiscriminately  from  any 
source  that  proved  suggestive — from  the  earth  and 
the  heavens  above  the  earth  and  the  waters  beneath  it 
— and  applied  in  ways  nearly  always  inexact  and  fre- 
quently misleading.  Of  all  the  hues  the  blue-reds  have 
the  most  accurately-descriptive  terms,  perhaps  because 
the  violets  and  purples  have  always  been  of  more  in- 
terest to  poets  than  to  common  men;  yet  even  here 
there  is  no  pretense  of  a  scientific  or  even  of  an  accu- 
rate nomenclature.  For  example,  to  take  a  few  only 
of  these  color  names,  the  term  purple  comes  from  a 
shell;  violet,  lilac,  lavender,  mauve,  iris,  amaranth, 
petunia  and  hyacinth  from  flowers;  mulberry,  rasp- 
berry, plum  and  prune  from  fruits;  and  amethyst — 
the  word  itself  means  a  remedy  for  drunkenness — from 

62 


Color 

a  stone.  Puce  is  French  for  flea;  gridelin  is  con- 
tracted from  gris  de  lin;  Bishop's  purple  and  London 
smoke  are  loosely  descriptive,  and  elephant's  breath  is 
a  pure  creation  of  the  fancy  of  an  earlier  day. 

With  the  best  intentions  in  the  world  it  is  quite  im- 
possible to  use  such  terms  exactly,  or  even  intelligibly, 
so  that  among  professional  workers  in  color — to  say 
nothing  of  laymen — a  given  color  name  will  rarely 
convey  precisely  the  same  idea  to  two  different  indi- 
viduals. The  inevitable  confusion  is  heightened  by 
manufacturers,  who  not  only  constantly  launch  new 
color  names,  but  also  employ  widely  varying  colors 
under  the  old  names.  Many  more  or  less  complete  and 
elaborate  systems  of  color  notation  have  been  devised, 
notably  those  of  Chevreul,  Maxwell,  Oberthiir  et  Dau- 
thenay,  and  Ridgeway;  but  these  systems  have  never 
been  widely  adopted.  Considerable  progress  toward 
standardization  has  been  made  in  the  last  decade;  but 
at  the  present  time  the  great  number  of  color  sensa- 
tions can  be  described  with  approximate  accuracy  only 
in  terms  of  their  relations  to  the  primary  and  binary 
hues,  and  to  black,  white  and  gray.  This  system  is 
clumsy  and  tedious,  but  it  is  the  best  available  to  one 
who  desires  to  be  widely  understood. 

The  effects  of  color  upon  our  emotional  states  are 
indubitable.  As  to  the  degree  in  which  these  effects 
are  due  on  the  one  hand  to  association  of  ideas  and 
on  the  other  to  differences  in  the  rapidity  of  light-ray 
vibrations  it  is  impossible  in  the  light  of  our  present 
knowledge  to  speak  definitely.  Red  is  the  color  of 
fire  and  of  blood,  as  violet  is  the  color  of  shadows,  and 

63 


The  Principles  of  Interior  Decoration 

it  is  inconceivable  that  the  mind  could  remain  unaf- 
fected by  these  associations  in  the  presence  of  either 
color.  On  the  other  hand,  red  lies  at  one  end  of  the 
spectrum  and  violet  at  the  other,  and  it  is  equally  in- 
conceivable that  the  brain,  as  a  physical  organism, 
could  remain  unaffected  by  the  enormously  different 
rates  of  vibration.  In  any  case  the  matter  is  of  scien- 
tific interest  only.  It  is  enough  for  the  decorator  to 
know  that  the  various  hues  possess  distinctive  emo- 
tional qualities;  that  the  colors  vary  in  emotional  value 
not  only  with  hue,  but  also  with  purity  and  luminosity ; 
and  that  through  proper  selection  of  the  hues,  proper 
emphasis  upon  purity  or  neutrality  and  upon  high  or 
low  tones,  he  can — with  the  convergent  use  of  line  and 
form — express  in  his  rooms  any  motive  that  appeals 
to  his  artistic  judgment  as  fitting. 

The  colors  are  first  of  all  divisible  into  two  groups, 
the  warm  and  the  cold  Warm  colors  are  those  in 
which  red  or  yellow  predominate ;  cold  colors  those  in 
which  blue  predominates.  The  warm  colors  tend  to 
impart  warmth  to  any  composition  in  which  they  are 
employed;  they  cause  surfaces  covered  with  them  to 
appear  to  advance  or  come  forward  in  plane ;  they  are 
suggestive  of  impetuous  or  instinctive  action  as  op- 
posed to  calculative  or  reflective  action;  they  are 
cheerful,  vivacious,  joyous,  and  relatively  stimulat- 
ing and  exciting.  The  cool  colors  on  the  other 
hand  tend  to  impart  coldness  to  any  composition  in 
which  they  are  employed;  they  cause  surfaces  covered 
with  them  to  appear  to  retreat  in  plane;  they 
are  suggestive  of  reflective  as  opposed  to  instinctive 

64 


Color 

action;  they  are  calm,  sober  and  serious,  and  rela- 
tively tranquillizing  and  depressing.  The  hues  vary 
in  warmth  and  coldness  directly  with  their  purity. 
Vermilion  is  warmer  than  maroon  or  pink,  and  ultra- 
marine is  colder  than  indigo  or  azure. 

In  addition  to  these  group  characteristics  each  of  the 
primary  and  binary  hues  possesses  a  distinctive  emo- 
tional quality,  which  it  tends  to  impart  to  its  compounds 
and  to  express  in  any  decorative  composition  in  which 
it  plays  a  part.  Although  these  emotional  qualities 
were  understood  and  employed  by  the  great  colorists 
of  the  Renaissance,  they  have  always  been  regarded 
by  the  layman  as  matters  of  fancy.  They  were,  how- 
ever, confirmed  scientifically  during  the  last  century 
by  Fere,  Binet,  Wundt  and  other  investigators. 

Yellow,  the  color  of  light  and  hence  of  life,  is  the 
most  brilliant,  cheerful  and  exultant  of  the  colors. 

Red,  the  color  of  fire  and  of  blood,  is  the  warmest, 
most  vigorous  and  most  exciting  of  the  colors. 

Blue,  the  color  of  the  starlit  sky  and  of  deep  and 
still  waters,  and  hence  of  profundity  and  vastness  and 
illimitable  spaces,  is  the  coldest  and  the  most  tranquil 
of  the  colors. 

Used  in  decoration,  yellow  is  sunny,  livable  and  in- 
spiriting; red  is  suggestive  of  richness,  warmth,  hos- 
pitality and  splendor;  blue  of  calmness,  tranquillity  and 
dignity. 

Considered  emotionally  the  three  primaries,  yellow, 
red  and  blue,  seem  not  only  to  symbolize  but  also  to 
express  the  cycle  of  human  life — the  exultant  life  of  its 
morning,  the  battle  and  passion  of  its  noon,  the  tran- 

65 


The  Principles  of  Interior  Decoration 

quillity  and  at  last  the  coldness  of  its  night.  In  some 
intuitive  way  man  seems  always  to  have  felt  this,  for 
the  three  hues  are  constantly  found  together  in  primi- 
tive art.  Certain  colorists  of  the  Renaissance  reduced 
the  feeling  to  a  formula,  and  held  that  no  scheme  of 
color  could  be  emotionally  satisfactory  unless  all  three 
of  the  primaries  appeared  in  it. 

The  binaries  are  compounds  emotionally  as  well  as 
physically.  Orange,  the  product  of  two  warm  colors, 
has  the  potency  of  both.  Sharing  the  heat  of  red  and 
the  light  of  yellow,  it  is  the  most  powerful  color,  being 
when  relatively  pure  very  decorative  but  hot  and  irri- 
tating. When  greatly  reduced  in  intensity  to  the  golden 
browns  and  tans  it  is  warm,  cheerful  and  unifying. 

Green  and  violet  are  products  of  the  union  of  warm 
and  cold  primaries,  and  accordingly  possess  qualities 
markedly  different  from  those  of  their  constituents, 
as  a  salt  differs  from  the  powerful  base  and  acid  that 
combine  to  produce  it.  The  greens  vary  widely  in 
character,  being  warm  or  cool,  sunny  or  somber,  ac- 
cording to  the  relative  quantities  of  yellow  and  blue 
in  their  composition.  When  partly  neutralized  or  pleas- 
antly broken  with  gray,  green  is  calm,  restful  and  re- 
freshing. 

Violet  is  the  color  of  shadows  and  of  mystery.  Vio- 
let and  purple  have  always  had  a  peculiar  fascination 
for  poets,  esthetes  and  mystics;  and  however  fanciful 
their  extravagances  it  is  true  that  these  colors  do  pos- 
sess a  subtle  suggestive  quality — a  sense  of  mysteries 
half-explored,  of  fires  quenched  but  still  burning — 
not  shared  by  the  other  hues. 

66 


Color 

Black,  white  and  gray  will  be  studied  at  some  length 
in  the  chapter  on  light  and  shade.  It  may,  however, 
be  noted  here  that,  used  by  themselves  and  on  large 
areas,  black  can  suggest  only  darkness  and  gloom,  and 
white  only  a  cold  purity.  Used  together  in  composi- 
tion, especially  in  small  sharply-contrasted  masses,  they 
yield  the  same  effect  of  concentrated  activity  that  al- 
ways results  from  the  struggle  of  powerful  opposites. 
When  fused  they  produce  neutral  and  characterless 
grays.  All  the  grays  are  soft  and  unaggressive.  True 
gray  is  as  neutral  emotionally  as  it  is  in  color,  while 
the  tones  of  gray  range  upward  toward  the  gentle 
serenity  of  light  gray  and  downward  toward  the  so- 
briety and  melancholy  of  dark  gray. 

Black  imparts  solemnity  to  any  composition  in  which 
it  plays  an  important  part.  Used  in  small  masses  with 
other  colors  it  serves  to  accent  the  peculiarities  of  the 
others,  and  thus  to  give  an  effect  of  concentration  and 
vigor.  White  has  the  same  power  to  give  animation 
through  the  effect  of  tone  contrast,  and  sets  off  the 
cool  colors  as  black  sets  off  the  warm.  When  the 
cold  purity  of  white  has  been  banished  by  a  little 
yellow,  as  in  cream  and  ivory,  it  expresses  a  dignified 
and  cheerful  serenity. 

The  positive  individual  qualities  of  the  hues  vary 
directly  with  their  purity.  All  the  normal  hues  are 
powerful,  bold,  somewhat  crude,  of  pronounced  indi- 
viduality, and  obvious.  They  tend  to  lose  these  char- 
acteristics as  they  approach  neutrality  or  are  broken 
with  gray,  while  at  the  same  time  they  gain -in  quiet- 
ness, subtlety  and  refinement.  Since  interior  decora- 

67 


The  Principles  of  Interior  Decoration 

tion  is  essentially  a  social  art,  and  since  the  social 
qualities  demand  subordination  of  self,  it  is  clear  that 
pure  or  almost  pure  colors  can  be  used  infrequently, 
and  then  in  very  limited  areas  only. 

All  the  colors  vary  in  emotional  qualities  with  their 
luminosity,  or  value.  Light  tones,  like  curved  lines, 
are  associated  with  instinctive  action,  while  dark  tones, 
like  straight  lines,  are  associated  with  reflective  action. 
All  light  tones,  simply  as  values,  and  apart  from  any 
qualities  of  the  hues  themselves,  have  a  relatively 
exciting  and  exhilarating  effect,  while  all  dark  tones 
have  a  contrary  effect.  The  high  values  express  the 
ideas  of  activity,  gayety,  transience,  delicacy,  fragility, 
lightness  and  grace;  while  the  low  values  express  the 
ideas  of  inactivity,  sobriety,  permanence,  strength, 
weight,  repose  and  dignity. 

The  use  of  color  in  decorative  composition  will  be 
discussed  in  several  of  the  later  chapters.  The  student 
of  interior  decoration  must,  however,  be  alert  to  gather 
ideas  helpful  in  color  practice  from  every  practicable 
source — from  nature,  from  art,  and  from  books.  There 
is  a  considerable  literature  of  color,  and  much  may  be 
learned  from  reading;  but  this  reading  must  be  done 
intelligently.  We  have  seen  that  the  study  of  color  is 
made  difficult  by  the  lack  of  a  definite  system  of  color 
notation,  and  by  the  fact  that  one  class  of  writers 
employs  the  theory  and  terminology  of  colored  light, 
and  another  class  the  theory  and  terminology  of  pig- 
ments. A  third  source  of  confusion  exists  in  the  fact 
that  most  of  what  has  been  written  of  color  prac- 
tice applies  primarily  to  the  art  of  painting,  and 

68 


Color 

very  little  of  it  directly  to  the  art  of  interior  decora- 
tion. 

In  their  use  of  color  painting  and  decoration  differ 
widely,  as  Professor  Raymond  has  pointed  out,  both  in 
motive  and  technique;  and  what  is  said  about  one  art 
is  accordingly  only  partially  applicable  to  the  other. 
The  painter  uses  color  in  order  to  represent  nature, 
while  the  decorator  uses  it  for  its  own  sake.  (The 
most  modern  of  the  painters,  who  have  wholly  dis- 
carded representation,  in  effect  use  color  as  it  is  used 
in  decoration.)  The  painter  deals  with  small  areas, 
which  he  covers  with  small  masses  of  color  revealing 
wide  variation  in  hue  and  practically  unlimited  varia- 
tion in  tone.  The  decorator  deals  with  large  areas, 
covered  with  large  masses  of  color,  and  revealing 
relatively  few  hues  and  a  relatively  limited  variation 
in  tone.  One  art  uses  chiefly  the  greens,  grays,  pur- 
ples and  light  blues  so  common  in  nature,  while  the 
other  uses  chiefly  the  warm  colors,  and  blue  in  darker 
rather  than  in  lighter  tones.  The  painter  is  frequently 
justified,  in  order  faithfully  to  set  forth  what  he  sees, 
in  introducing  inharmonious  colors;  the  decorator, 
who  uses  color  for  its  esthetic  value  purely,  has  no  such 
justification.  Finally,  the  primary  aim  in  painting  is 
to  create  something  which  shall  be  beautiful  in  itself; 
while  the  primary  aim  in  interior  decoration  is  to  create 
something  which  shall  be  beautiful  in  conjunction  with, 
and  as  a  background  for,  the  people  who  use  the  room. 
Merely  to  state  these  differences  is  enough  to  empha- 
size the  need  for  caution  in  applying  to  the  art  of 
interior  decoration  the  general  literature  of  color. 

69 


I 


CHAPTER  VI 

THE   SIGNIFICANCE   OF   TEXTURE 

statement  that  form  and  color  are  the 
two  media  of  decorative  expression  requires 
qualification ;  for  texture,  although  in  an  ac- 
curate sense  simply  form  and  color  inter- 
woven, is  in  effect  a  distinct  medium  of  expression, 
and  one  of  great  importance. 

The  word  texture  comes  from  a  root  meaning  to 
weave,  but  its  primary  meaning  has  been  so  widened 
that  the  term  is  used  in  the  arts  to  express  structure, 
or  the  manner  in  which  the  parts  of  a  material  are 
united  or  interwoven.  In  this  sense  all  decorative  ma- 
terials have  texture,  and  their  texture  is  the  most  char- 
acteristic and  in  some  respects  the  most  significant 
quality  they  possess.  Through  it  form  and  color, 
essentially  impersonal  attributes,  become  individual- 
ized. Without  it  decoration  would  be  meaningless  and 
beauty  impossible.  Thus  cinnamon  brown,  simply  as 
a  flat  color,  is  uninteresting  and  unpleasant,  being  in 
fact  little  more  than  a  dirty  yellow-orange.  But  when 
it  appears  in  an  interesting  texture,  as  in  oak  or  wal- 
nut, in  silk,  wool  or  paper,  in  close  or  open  weaves 
and  flat  or  pile  fabrics,  it  becomes  significant  and  beau- 
tiful. Similarly  the  dead  gloom  of  black  and  the  dead 

70 


The  Significance  of  Texture 

glare  of  white  are  relieved  and  endowed  with  life  and 
animation,  as  the  heat  of  red,  the  cold  of  blue,  and  the 
brilliancy  of  yellow  are  tempered,  by  texture. 

The  esthetic  value  of  texture  lies  first  of  all  in  the 
fact  that  it  makes  gradation  of  color  possible.  Flat 
colors  are  never  beautiful.  Broadly  speaking,  they 
appear  neither  in  nature  nor  in  good  art.  A  flat  tone 
is  often  useful  in  decoration,  as  when  painted  wood- 
work or  furniture  is  employed  to  set  off  by  contrast 
the  gradated  tones  of  rug,  walls  and  hangings;  but  of 
itself  it  is  monotonous  and  unbeautiful.  Texture  gives 
a  surface  unevenness,  either  actually,  as  in  woven  fab- 
rics, flock  papers,  or  wrought  iron,  or  in  effect,  as  in 
the  grain  of  hardwoods,  and  this  unevenness  causes 
the  surface  color  to  be  broken  into  an  infinitude  of  mi- 
nute gradations  of  light  and  shade,  banishing  its  hard, 
lifeless,  obvious  quality,  and  investing  it  with  the  charm 
of  vitality  and  subtlety.  The  importance  of  gradation 
in  color  is  thus  finely  emphasized  by  Ruskin  in  the 
third  letter  of  The  Elements  of  Drawing:  "And  it 
does  not  matter  how  small  the  touch  of  color  may  be, 
though  not  larger  than  the  smallest  pin's  head,  if  one 
part  of  it  is  not  darker  than  the  rest  it  is  a  bad  touch; 
for  it  is  not  merely  that  the  natural  fact  is  so,  that 
your  color  should  be  gradated;  the  preciousness  and 
pleasantness  of  the  color  itself  depends  more  on  this 
than  on  any  other  of  its  qualities,  for  gradation  is  to 
color  just  what  curvature  is  to  lines,  both  being  felt 
to  be  beautiful  by  the  pure  instinct  of  every  human 
mind,  and  both,  considered  as  types,  expressing  the  law 
of  gradual  change  and  progress  in  the  human  soul  it- 


The  Principles  of  Interior  Decoration 

self.  What  the  difference  is  in  mere  beauty  between  a 
gradated  and  ungradated  color  may  be  seen  easily  by 
laying  an  even  tint  of  rose  color  on  paper,  and  putting 
a  rose-leaf  beside  it.  The  victorious  beauty  of  the  rose 
as  compared  with  other  flowers  depends  wholly  upon 
the  delicacy  and  quantity  of  its  color  gradations,  all 
other  flowers  being  either  less  rich  in  gradation,  not 
having  so  many  folds  of  leaf;  or  less  tender,  being 
patched  and  veined  instead  of  flushed." 

Because  large  areas  of  flat  color  are  not  only  tire- 
some and  unbeautiful  in  themselves,  but  also  totally 
unsympathetic  backgrounds  for  the  people  and  things 
that  appear  against  them,  all  background  surfaces 
should  reveal  a  marked  effect  of  texture.  Walls  and 
ceilings  ought  not  to  be  tinted  with  calcimine  unless 
they  have  a  relatively  rough  surface,  and  when  smooth 
walls  are  painted  they  should  be  covered  with  canvas 
or  muslin  first  and  stippled  afterward,  or  otherwise 
roughened  in  order  to  ensure  the  effect  of  texture  and 
the  beauty  of  gradated  tones.  The  great  decorative 
value  of  wall  paper  lies  largely  in  the  fact  that  it 
makes  possible  almost  any  desired  effect  of  texture,  and 
this  at  almost  any  desired  price.  Costly  papers  like 
the  grass-cloths  and  flocks  possess  great  individuality 
and  distinction  in  texture,  while  such  inexpensive  pa- 
pers as  the  jaspes  and  imitation  grass-cloths  simulate 
it  by  the  skillful  use  of  dots,  dashes  and  hair-lines  of 
color  printed  upon  a  plain  or  embossed  surface. 

Quite  apart  from  their  hue  and  tone,  textures  pos- 
sess emotional  values  due  to  the  association  of  ideas. 
The  decorator  will  accordingly  seek  to  group  textures 

72 


The  Significance  of  Texture 

with  other  textures,  as  he  groups  forms  and  colors,  in 
such  a  way  as  to  produce  convergences  of  effect  and 
to  ensure  decorative  unity  through  likenesses  either 
in  appearance  or  in  significance.  Instinctively  we  as- 
sociate the  texture  of  oak  with  what  is  strong  and 
vigorous  and  a  little  crude.  Hence  we  group  it  in 
general  not  only  with  relatively  low  tones  of  color  and 
relatively  large  and  simple  shapes,  but  also  with  tex- 
tures which  are  relatively  firm  and  heavy,  as  tapestry, 
velvet  or  leather.  Similarly  the  texture  of  satinwood 
is  associated  by  the  mind  with  what  is  smooth  and  deli- 
cate and  refined,  and  is  therefore  grouped  in  practice 
with  textures  like  damask,  brocade  or  taffeta,  which  are 
light,  smooth  and  lustrous,  as  well  as  with  light  colors 
and  relatively  slight  and  graceful  shapes.  Instinc- 
tively the  texture  of  silk  is  associated  with  what  is  rare 
and  costly  and  that  of  cotton  with  what  is  common- 
place and  inexpensive,  as  the  texture  of  lustrous  deep- 
pile  weaves  is  associated  with  richness  and  luxury  and 
of  lusterless  flat  weaves  with  a  strait  simplicity.  Doubt- 
less the  emotional  significance  of  texture  has  roots 
that  lie  below  mere  association,  in  states  too  purely 
metaphysical  for  discussion  here.  In  any  case  it  is 
certain  that  the  consistent  use  of  texture  is  for  some 
reason  felt  to  be  even  more  essential  in  good  decoration 
than  consistency  in  ornament  or  style.  Some  textures, 
used  together,  are  felt  at  once  to  be  unsympathetic  and 
even  antipathetic;  while  others  seem  to  be  related  by 
subtle  affinities. 

The  choice  of  textures  and  their  harmonious  group- 
ing is  an  important  and  difficult  part  of  the  decorator's 

73 


The  Principles  of  Interior  Decoration 

work,  and  one  for  which  no  guides  other  than  a  few 
vague  suggestions  can  be  established.  It  is  first  of  all 
clear  that  textures  cannot  be  grouped  according  to  their 
cost.  Certain  expensive  basket  weaves  and  block- 
printed  Tussore  silks,  for  example,  would  serve  excel- 
lently as  hangings  in  a  simple  living  room  furnished  in 
good  oak  or  French  willow,  where  a  far  less  expensive 
damask  would  be  too  formal;  as  a  plain  dark  wood 
molding  would  serve  excellently  to  frame  an  etching 
which,  however  great  its  cost,  would  be  ruined  by  a 
carved  gilt  molding.  Nor  can  textures  always  be 
grouped  according  to  surface  likenesses,  as  rough 
with  rough  and  smooth  with  smooth.  A  carved  oak 
chair,  in  spite  of  the  rough  and  open  texture  of  the 
wood,  will  ordinarily  look  better  covered  in  a  smooth 
pile  velvet  than  in  a  rough  and  open-weave  wool  rep; 
as  a  porcelain  lamp  will  normally  look  better  with  a 
shade  of  silk  than  with  one  of  glass.  Textures  must 
in  fact  be  grouped  according  to  their  significance,  and 
this  significance  will  usually  be  found  to  depend  in 
part  upon  their  physical  characteristics  and  in  part 
upon  association  of  ideas. 

Thus  the  formality  of  the  damask  is  due  to  the  stiff- 
ness of  its  weave;  to  its  close  sheen,  which  seems  to 
ward  off  familiarities  as  does  the  polish  of  the  diplo- 
mat or  the  courtier;  and  to  the  fact  that  it  has  always 
been  associated  historically  with  a  formal  style  of 
living.  The  basket  weave,  on  the  other  hand,  and  the 
rough  texture  of  Tussore  silk,  suggest  openness  and 
informality,  like  a  gentleman  in  tweeds.  The  fine  black 
lines  of  the  etching  suggest  precision  and  hardness, 

74 


The  Significance  of  Texture 

and  its  broad  rough  lines  homeliness  and  solidity; 
and  both  of  these  qualities  are  associated  in  the  mind 
with  plain  dark  wood  but  not  with  gilded  ornament. 
Good  carving,  in  oak  no  less  than  in  walnut  or  ma- 
hogany, suggests  a  richness  which  accords  better  with 
the  sumptuous  quality  of  velvet  than  with  the  rough 
dullness  of  rep.  The  glaze  and  luster  of  porcelain 
and  pottery  associate  these  materials  with  the  idea  of 
light,  and  give  them  a  fitness  for  use  as  lamp  bases  not 
possessed  by  ungilded  wood  or  wrought  iron;  while 
the  softly  graduated  tones  of  thin  silk  seem,  better  than 
the  hard  brilliancy  of  glass,  to  express  the  soft  and  per- 
meating quality  of  light.  Thus  we  associate  leather — 
unless  sumptuously  tooled  and  colored — with  what  is 
commonplace  and  serviceable,  and  gold  leaf  with  what 
is  pretentious  and  superficial.  And  thus  we  place 
Sevres  and  bisque  in  the  drawing  room  because  their 
very  texture  seems  to  have  in  it  something  of  the  tran- 
sient, fleeting  quality  of  youth  and  gayety;  and  Rook- 
wood  and  Grueby  in  the  living  room,  along  with  age 
and  strength  and  permanence. 

In  general  lustrous  textures  are  grouped  with  lus- 
trous, and  dull  textures  with  dull.  However,  excep- 
tions to  this  rule  of  practice  will  frequently  be  made  in 
the  use  of  richly-colored  fabrics.  Thus  dull,  light,  or 
thinly-colored  cretonnes  will  appear  to  better  advan- 
tage with  lusterless  rugs  of  the  Brussels  or  Scotch  in- 
grain type  than  with  pile  fabrics.  On  the  other  hand, 
richly-colored  cretonnes  or  printed  linens  accord  ex- 
cellently not  only  with  plain  or  self-toned  axminster  or 
chenille  rugs,  but  also  with  fine  wiltons  and  with 

75 


The  Principles  of  Interior  Decoration 

many  small-figured  Orientals,  like  the  Feraghans  or 
Serebends;  provided,  of  course,  that  there  is  har- 
mony in  color  as  well  as  in  the  character  or  spirit  of 
the  design.  Similarly,  cretonnes  or  linens  of  this  type 
may  be  used  in  a  colorful  room  with  valances  made  of 
a  velvet  chosen  to  match  one  of  the  rich  colors  of  the 
pattern;  whereas  a  linen  or  cretonne  of  meager  color- 
ing would  require  a  valance  of  the  same  material,  or 
of  a  plain  material  equally  lusterless. 

So  far  as  its  significance  is  concerned,  texture  is  em- 
ployed by  the  decorator  not  to  express  new  ideas,  but 
to  affirm  those  expressed  by  form  and  color,  and  his 
chief  concern  is  therefore  to  emphasize  the  decorative 
effects  produced  by  form  and  color  through  the  con- 
vergent effect  of  texture.  It  cannot  be  too  often  stated 
that  in  the  perfect  convergence  of  effects  lies  the  highest 
charm  of  good  decoration.  Not  its  forcefulness  and 
convincing  quality  merely,  but  also  its  atmosphere  of 
good  breeding  and  decorum — and  it  is  worth  noting 
here  that  this  word  and  decoration  come  from  a  com- 
mon root  meaning  to  be  fitting  or  becoming — are  large- 
ly dependent  upon  the  avoidance  of  inconsistencies  and 
esthetic  contradictions. 

The  appreciation  of  significance  and  beauty  in  tex- 
ture, as  in  color,  line  and  form,  must  be  cultivated,  and 
this  can  be  best  accomplished  through  a  close  familiar- 
ity with  the  various  decorative  materials,  together  with 
the  study  of  their  use  in  the  great  decorative  periods. 
These  periods  were  great  precisely  because  in  them 
decorative  art  attained  to  approximately  perfect  con- 
vergences of  effects.  However,  each  such  period  was 

76 


The  Significance  of  Texture 

great  at  the  time  of  its  maturity,  not  in  its  adolescence 
or  its  decadence,  and  the  student  must  see  to  it  that  he 
is  studying  the  best  practice.  Even  in  the  best  practice 
many  inconsistencies  will  be  found,  as  in  all  things 
human ;  but  it  was  in  general  based  upon  a  deep  feeling 
for  harmony  in  texture  and  a  keen  appreciation  of  its 
importance  in  decorative  art. 

This  concludes  our  study  of  the  grammar  of  decora- 
tion and  prepares  the  way  for  the  study  of  the  problems 
of  composition.  Brief  and  fragmentary  as  this  study 
has  of  necessity  been,  it  has  at  any  rate  served  to  point 
out  that  everything  used  in  the  art  of  interior  decora- 
tion is  instinct  with  meaning.  The  decorator  may  be 
unaware  of  these  meanings,  as  the  child  may  be  un- 
aware of  the  meanings  of  the  letters  printed  on  his 
blocks;  but  the  meanings  are  there  nevertheless,  and 
are  quite  sure  to  find  their  way  into  the  consciousness 
of  any  one  who  has  eyes  trained  to  see.  And  whether 
they  will  group  themselves  into  a  clear  and  pleasant 
thought  or  strike  the  mind  as  a  meaningless  jumble  will 
depend  wholly  upon  the  skill  with  which  they  are 
combined. 


77 


CHAPTER  VII 

THE   ELEMENTS   OF   BEAUTY 

WHEN  the  decorator,  having  mastered  the 
grammar  of  his  art  and  studied  the  archi- 
tectural requirements  of  the  room  to  be 
furnished  and  the  needs  and  tastes  of  its 
occupants,  sets  out  to  make  the  room  beautiful,  he  is  im- 
mediately confronted  by  the  puzzling  question :  What  is 
beauty?  Fitness  and  comfort  he  can  ensure  by  the  due 
exercise  of  care  and  common  sense.  But  how  ensure 
beauty,  an  intangible  and  elusive  quality  which  he  can 
neither  define  nor  even  recognize  with  assurance? 
How  go  about  it  to  give  what  is  at  best  but  a  vague 
ideal  concrete  expression?  How  make  a  start  in  the 
actual  processes  of  selection  and  arrangement?  And, 
seeing  that  what  one  calls  beautiful  another  calls  un- 
beautiful,  and  that  indeed  there  seem  to  be  no  fixed 
standards  or  norms  of  beauty,  how  shall  he  know, 
when  his  room  is  finished,  whether  it  is  beautiful  or 
not? 

These  considerations  do  not  trouble  the  great  artist, 
who  does  what  he  has  to  do,  as  Lord  Bacon  noted, 
"by  a  kind  of  felicity."  Nor  do  they  trouble  the  great 
number  of  house- furnishers  who  do  it  in  the  same  way, 
minus  the  felicity.  But  to  those  of  us  who  are  neither 

78 


The  Elements  of  Beauty 

great  artists  nor  indifferent  to  beauty,  and  who  must 
see  the  ground  beneath  our  feet  before  we  take  a  step, 
they  are  questions  of  the  most  serious  importance. 

If  we  turn  to  books  for  answers  to  these  questions 
we  find  that  writers  on  interior  decoration  have  for 
the  most  part  ignored  them,  contenting  themselves 
either  with  description  and  illustration,  or  with  gen- 
eralities too  loose  to  be  markedly  helpful  in  practice; 
while  from  the  writers  on  esthetics  we  learn  that  al- 
though philosophers  from  Pythagoras  to  Croce  have 
sought  to  define  it,  beauty  is  after  all  a  quality  too 
subtle  for  definition.  Like  electricity,  or  like  the  life- 
force  itself,  we  can  experience  it  but  we  cannot  tell 
what  it  is. 

At  first  thought  this  looks  like  an  impasse.  How- 
ever, the  case  is  not  as  bad  as  it  looks;  for  while  it  is 
true  that  beauty  is  beyond  definition,  and  that  no  for- 
mulas exist  for  its  creation,  it  is  also  true  that  the  ele- 
ments of  beauty,  or  rather  the  conditions  under  which 
it  appears,  are  fairly  constant.  If,  therefore,  we  can 
cause  these  conditions  to  be  present  in  our  rooms  we 
can  be  sure  that  beauty,  in  some  degree  at  least,  will 
be  present  also.  The  first  of  these  elements  or  condi- 
tions, the  one  most  easily  apprehensible  and  most  near- 
ly susceptible  in  practice  of  reduction  to  general  state- 
ment, and  the  one  that  constitutes  the  essential  prin- 
ciple of  beauty  in  the  art  of  interior  decoration,  is  the 
imaginative  or  sensuous  expression  of  unity  in  variety. 

Simply  expressed,  this  means  that  before  beauty 
can  appear  in  it  any  work  of  art,  whether  it  be  a  pic- 
ture, a  chair,  or  a  furnished  room,  must  consist  of 

79 


The  Principles  of  Interior  Decoration 

many  parts;  which  parts,  however  numerous  or  di- 
verse, must  be  so  combined  that  they  appear  to  con- 
cur in  forming  one  whole.  That  is,  they  must  present 
themselves  to  the  mind  as  a  unit,  with  a  single  aim, 
design  and  purpose.  No  bare  room,  no  room  which 
lacks  a  diversity  of  lines,  shapes,  colors  and  textures, 
of  lights  and  shadows,  of  plain  and  ornamented  sur- 
faces, can  be  beautiful.  Nor  can  any  room  be  beautiful 
which,  possessing  this  diversity,  fails  to  fuse  it  into 
an  essential  unity.  Conversely,  no  room  so  decorated 
that  it  reveals  a  stimulating  degree  of  diversity,  while 
at  the  same  time  its  unity  is  perceptible  instantly  and 
without  effort,  can  be  wholly  lacking  in  beauty. 

It  is  therefore  clear  that  the  decorator  will  do  well 
to  disregard,  at  the  outset,  the  more  intangible  and 
spiritual  elements  of  beauty,  which  demand  for  their 
creation  both  imaginative  power  and  a  high  degree  of 
technical  skill.  These  more  subtle  elements  will  come 
later,  with  the  growth  of  creative  power.  At  the  out- 
set it  will  be  enough  for  him  to  arrive  at  principles 
of  selection  and  arrangement  through  which  the  diver- 
sity of  forms  and  colors  necessarily  appearing  in  the 
walls,  floor  and  ceiling  of  his  room,  in  its  furniture  and 
upholstery  fabrics,  its  hangings,  lamps,  shades  and 
pictures,  can  be  coordinated  and  fused  into  the  unity 
without  which  the  room  and  its  furnishings  will  be 
merely  a  congeries  of  unrelated  parts,  and  as  such 
unbeautiful.  It  is  manifest  that  unity  or  the  lack  of  it 
can  be  perceived  only  by  the  mind.  To  the  nature  of 
the  mind,  therefore,  we  must  look  for  the  solution  of 
the  problem. 

80 


The  Elements  of  Beauty 

The  human  mind  is  so  constituted  that  it  can  grasp 
but  a  limited  number  of  impressions  at  one  time.  Be- 
fore it  can  comprehend  a  great  variety  of  phenomena  it 
must  divide  these  phenomena  into  classes  or  groups, 
according  to  some  principle  of  order.  This  principle 
is  th-e  arrangement  of  like  with  like.  Thus  primitive 
man,  surveying  the  multitude  of  living  creatures  about 
him,  observes  that  some  fly  in  the  air,  and  these  he 
calls  birds;  while  others,  which  live  in  the  water, 
crawl  upon  the  earth,  or  walk  upright  upon  four  feet, 
he  calls  fish,  reptiles  and  animals.  Observing  further 
that  some  of  the  animals  eat  flesh,  he  marks  off  the  car- 
nivores, which  are  in  turn  divided  into  genera — as  the 
canines  and  felines — and  finally  separated  into  indi- 
vidual species.  Of  course  his  groupings  will  not  satis- 
fy a  later  science.  He  will  call  the  whale  a  fish,  and 
the  bat  a  bird.  But  the  point  is  that  they  will  satisfy 
his  mind.  When  things  look  alike,  or  behave  in  the 
same  manner — that  is,  when  they  have  the  same  domi- 
nant qualities — he  groups  them  together  and  is  satisfied. 
Out  of  this  process  of  grouping  like  with  like  have 
grown  all  the  cosmologies,  religions,  sciences  and  arts, 
which,  however  widely  they  may  differ  in  content, 
have  for  their  common  purpose  the  arrangement  of  like 
with  like,  and  the  organization  of  the  phenomena  with 
which  they  are  concerned,  whether  they  be  gods  or 
butterflies,  in  an  order  of  dominance  and  subordina- 
tion. 

Since  the  mind  works  this  way  in  all  things,  it  will 
work  this  way  in  its  apprehension  of  beauty ;  and  with- 
out venturing  into  the  field  of  physiological  psychology 

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The  Principles  of  Interior  Decoration 

we  may  assume  the  fact  that  whenever  the  mind  is 
able  without  difficulty  to  recognize  easily  perceptible 
likenesses  among  a  relatively  wide  range  of  objects 
and  effects  seen  at  the  same  time  esthetic  pleasure  will 
result.  That  is,  the  mind  will  in  some  degree,  however 
slight,  feel  the  thrill  of  beauty.  If  it  cannot  recognize 
such  likenesses,  or  can  recognize  them  only  with  diffi- 
culty, or  if  the  objects  and  effects  perceived  lack  di- 
versity, esthetic  pleasure  will  not  result.  Thus  the 
mind  could  see  no  beauty,  but  only  confusion,  in  a 
hundred  straight  lines  and  right  angles  drawn  at  ran- 
dom on  a  sheet  of  paper,  because  of  the  total  absence 
of  likenesses  among  such  stimuli.  Nor  could  it  see 
beauty  in  four  of  these  lines  arranged  to  form  a  square, 
and  six  more  of  them  arranged  to  form  a  swastika, 
because  of  the  lack  of  variety  in  the  effects  thus  pre- 
sented to  it.  But  if  the  entire  hundred  were  arranged 
in  a  design  of  squares  and  swastikas  and  border  lines 
to  form  a  Greek  fret,  the  mind,  easily  perceiving  the 
resemblances  in  the  complex  whole,  would  call  it  beau- 
tiful. The  fret,  to  be  sure,  would  not  appear  to 
possess  a  high  degree  of  beauty  because  of  its  rela- 
tive lack  of  diversity ;  but  it  would  reveal  some  beauty 
because  it  would  constitute  an  imaginative  expression 
of  variety  in  unity,  one  in  the  manifold. 

A  furnished  room  necessarily  presents  to  the  mind 
of  one  who  enters  it  a  wide  variety  in  form,  texture, 
hue,  tone  and  significance.  When,  surveying  the  vary- 
ing lines  and  shapes  in  such  a  room,  the  mind  is  able 
without  difficulty  to  recognize  resemblances  among 
them,  it  is  more  or  less  keenly  aware  of  the  presence  of 

82 


beauty  in  the  room.  When  it  also  recognizes  likenesses 
in  hue  and  tone  among  a  diversity  of  hues  and  tones 
this  consciousness  of  beauty  is  intensified.  And  if  to 
these  purely  physical  stimuli  be  added  the  perception  of 


FIGURE  8. — Beauty  cannot  be  made  to  appear  in  any  compo- 
sition which  lacks  either  unity  or  variety.  When  there  is  vari- 
ety in  unity  there  is  beauty,  however  slight. 

like  significance  or  emotional  values — as  when  color  and 
form  and  texture  converge  in  the  expression  of  an  emo- 
tional idea  like  that  of  tranquillity  or  elegance  or  dainti- 
ness— the  consciousness  of  beauty  is  still  further 
heightened. 

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The  Principles  of  Interior  Decoration 

Thus  it  appears  that  in  the  creation  of  beauty 
through  unity  in  diversity  the  fundamental  principle 
of  composition,  the  basic  requirement  and  sine  qua  non 
of  all  good  work,  is  to  ensure  unity  by  putting  together 
things  that  are  alike.  These  like  elements  may  of 
course  be  more  or  less  alike.  They  may  be  exactly  alike 
or  only  partially  alike.  They  may  be  alike  in  physical 
appearance  or  in  emotional  significance.  The  degree 
of  likeness  may  be  perfectly  obvious  or  exquisitely 
subtle.  But  whether  obvious  or  subtle,  it  is  absolutely 
essential  to  the  beauty  of  the  finished  room  that  mani- 
fold resemblances  reveal  themselves  among  its  parts, 
and  that  these  resemblances  be  perceptible  without 
effort;  for  mental  effort  is  fatal  to  the  perception  of 
beauty. 

Even  yet  there  remains  one  step,  necessitated  by  the 
mind's  insistence  upon  the  principle  of  subordination, 
and  hence  upon  a  dominant  element  in  every  composi- 
tion. Wherever  there  is  a  division  of  parts  one  part 
must  be  greater  than  the  others.  Among  all  the  colors 
one  color  must  be  in  the  ascendant.  Among  all  the  lines 
one  type  of  line  must  make  its  presence  in  the  room 
most  strongly  felt.  Among  several  emotional  ideas 
one  idea  must  be  most  forcefully  expressed.  The  es- 
thetic importance  of  the  dominant  element  is  apparent 
in  the  earliest  beginnings  of  art.  It  underlies  all  sound 
artistic  practice,  since  it  is  based  upon  the  constitution 
of  the  mind  itself. 

In  the  light  of  these  considerations  we  would  expect 
to  find,  as  in  fact  we  do  find,  that  there  are  in  practice 
two  methods  of  insuring  unity  in  the  decoration  of 

84 


The  Elements  of  Beauty 


FIGURE  9. — In  a  and  c  several  horizontal  divisions  are  practi- 
cally equal.  In  b  and  d  this  defect  is  corrected  in  such  a  way 
as  to  reveal  clearly  the  presence  of  a  dominant  element.  See 
also  figures  10,  11,  12,  31.  (Figures  adapted  from  Mayeux.) 

85 


The  Principles  of  Interior  Decoration 

houses.  One  of  these  methods  consists  essentially  in 
putting  like  with  like.  The  other  consists  essentially 
in  making  one  element  of  a  composition  first  in  impor- 
tance, and  all  other  elements  subordinate.  We  may 
call  the  first  the  method  of  repetition,  and  the  second 
the  method  of  principality.  In  practice  they  must 
of  course  be  applied  conjointly,  so  that  each  supple- 
ments and  confirms  the  other. 

The  Craftsman  chair  shown  in  Figure  10  lacks  a 
dominant  element,  since  the  distance  from  seat  to  top 
of  back  is  the  same  as  that  from  seat  to  floor.  It 
possesses  the  unity  due  to  constant  repetition  of  straight 
lines  and  rectilinear  shapes,  but  lacks  diversity  in  line, 
ornamental  detail,  hue  and  tone.  It  appears  to  be 
substantial,  enduring  and  well-contrived,  but  austere, 
ungraceful  and  uninviting.  The  Queen  Anne  chair, 
on  the  contrary,  reveals  the  presence  of  a  dominant 
element,  not  only  in  the  chair  as  a  whole,  but  also  in 
the  design  of  the  individual  members.  This  chair 
reveals  a  wide  variety  in  line,  contour,  and  ornamental 
detail,  yet  its  important  lines  are  all  related  to  a  dom- 
inant type — the  cyma  recta,  or  "line  of  beauty"  curve — 
and  hence  are  unifying.  The  chair  is  an  excellent 
example  of  beauty  due  to  the  convergent  employment 
of  the  two  methods,  repetition  and  principality. 

In  practice  the  question  of  principality  must  be 
settled  at  the  outset.  The  decorator  will  first  of  all 
insure  a  measure  of  unity  by  choosing  a  motive,  or 
dominant  emotional  idea,  around  which  to  build  his 
decorative  treatment.  He  will  further  insure  the  unity 
of  his  room  by  making  one  hue  dominant  by  methods 

86 


The  Elements  of  Beauty 

to  be  studied  later,  and  by  making  one  tone,  or  rather 
a  register  of  closely  related  tones,  dominant  by  methods 
to  be  studied  in  the  chapter  on  light  and  shade.  It  is 
no  less  essential  so  to  arrange  the  furniture  and  other 


FIGURE  10. — This  Craftsman  chair  reveals  a  degree  of  unity 
due  to  repetition  of  the  same  type  of  line;  it  lacks  the  unity  en- 
sured by  the  presence  of  a  dominant  element,  as  well  as  the 
diversity  ensured  by  changes  in  line  and  ornamental  detail.  The 
English  chair  is  free  from  these  defects. 

architectural  and  decorative  elements  of  the  room  that 
a  single  object  or  group  of  closely  related  objects  is 
made  dominant.  Thus  the  eye,  confronted  by  a 
variety  of  shapes,  sizes  and  ornamental  motives  in  the 
room  as  a  whole,  is  left  in  no  perplexity  as  to  the 

87 


The  Principles  of  Interior  Decoration 

degree  of  attention  due  to  the  various  elements,  but 
rests  naturally  and  without  effort  on  the  most  impor- 
tant 

In  a  hall,  or  in  any  room  where  it  can  be  kept  fairly 
free  from  furniture  and  from  competition  with  pictures 
and  other  counter-attractions,  a  rug  can  be  made  the 


FIGURE  n. — In  this  room  the  fireplace,  the  large  window  with 
its  curved  top,  supporting  pilasters  and  heavy  hangings,  and  the 
big  elliptical  picture  make  demands  upon  the  attention  so  nearly 
equal  as  to  rob  the  room  of  a  dominant  element,  and  hence  of 
unity  and  the  possibility  of  beauty. 

dominant  element  of  a  decorative  treatment.  In  other 
rooms,  owing  to  the  disposition  of  the  mind  to  look 
for  the  meaning  of  things  to  the  top  rather  than  to 
the  bottom — to  the  flower  and  not  the  stem;  the  face 
and  not  the  feet — a  rug  cannot  be  made  the  dominant 
element  without  subjecting  the  whole  treatment  to  a 
serious  strain.  Ordinarily  rooms  are  given  unity 

88 


The  Elements  of  Beauty 

through  principality  by  the  fireplace  with  its  over- 
mantel, by  a  group  of  windows  with  their  hangings, 
by  a  console  table  and  mirror,  a  tapestry,  a  picture,  or 
a  reading  table  with  its  lamp  and  shade.  In  important 


FIGURE  12.— -Here  the  fireplace  has  been  made  clearly  domi- 
nant by  (a)  increasing  its  importance  through  the  substitution 
of  a  relatively  large  and  striking  picture;  (b)  decreasing  the 
importance  of  the  window  through  the  substitution  of  thin  silk 
curtains ;  (c^  eliminating  the  elliptical  picture  and  the  substitu- 
tion of  a  mirror.  Note  that  the  straight-line  base  and  sides  of 
this  mirror  repeat  the  outlines  of  the  wall  space,  while  its  top 
echoes  the  dominant  line  of  the  window.  Variations  of  this 
same  curve  also  appear  in  the  corners  of  the  large  picture  frame 
and  in  the  candlesticks  placed  on  the  mantel. 

rooms  the  choice  of  the  dominant  feature  is  usually 
determined  by  the  tastes  of  the  decorator.  In  all 
rooms,  whether  important  or  otherwise,  it  must  always 
be  conditioned  by  the  architecture,  and  particularly  by 
the  size  and  shape  of  the  room  and  the  distribution  of 
its  voids  and  masses.  It  is  of  course  obvious  that 

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The  Principles  of  Interior  Decoration 

no  decorative  feature  should  be  given  principality 
unless  it  is  intrinsically  worthy  of  the  attention  thus 
forced  upon  it.  If  it  is  not  worthy  the  effect  of  unity 
will  have  been  gained  at  the  cost  of  a  perpetual  sense  of 
distaste. 

When  the  dominant  element  has  been  determined  the 
first  concern  of  the  decorator,  paradoxical  as  the  state- 
ment may  seem,  is  to  keep  it  from  becoming  too  con- 
spicuous. It  is  a  law  of  the  mind  that,  other  things 
being  equal,  we  must  attend  to  the  strongest  stimulus ; 
and  if  the  dominant  element  is  permitted  to  catch  and 
hold  the  eye  and  constantly  to  obtrude  itself  upon  the 
mind,  whether  by  reason  of  its  size,  shape,  color  or 
position,  it  will  inevitably  shut  out  of  consciousness 
the  subordinate  elements  of  the  composition,  which  are 
no  less  essential  to  the  beauty  of  the  whole,  since  they 
insure  the  necessary  effect  of  diversity.  The  dominant 
element  must  accordingly  be  related  to  the  subordinate 
elements  so  cunningly  that  it  appears  to  pervade  the 
room  rather  than  to  rule  over  it.  For  example,  in  a 
small  living  room  the  fireplace,  if  symmetrically  placed, 
would  normally  be  made  the  dominant  feature  of  the 
decorative  treatment,  both  because  of  its  architectural 
importance  and  because  it  is  the  cause  and  center  of 
social  intercourse.  A  relatively  large  fireplace,  par- 
ticularly if  it  were  faced  with  tile  or  brick  either  lighter 
or  darker  in  tone  than  the  walls,  or  if  it  projected,  with 
its  chimney  breast,  for  some  distance  into  the  room, 
would  of  necessity  be  so  heavy  in  a  decorative  sense 
that  it  might  very  easily  be  made  to  seem  over-impor- 
tant and  destructive  of  the  organic  harmony  of  the 

90 


The  Elements  of  Beauty 

room.  Therefore  any  marked  increase  in  its  impor- 
tance, caused,  let  us  say,  by  the  addition  of  a  paneled 
over-mantel,  a  large  and  conspicuous  picture  or  mirror, 


FIGURE  13. — The  very  marked  projection  of  the  fireplace  and 
the  effect  of  weight  produced  by  its  tile  facing  render  the  use 
of  striking  accessories  on  the  over-mantel  unwise. 

or  of  a  number  of  vases,  easel  pictures,  or  other  objects 
of  striking  outline  and  pronounced  coloring,  would 
mar  the  decorative  balance  and  imperil  the  beauty  oi 
the  room.  Accordingly  he  would  doubtless  find  it 
desirable  to  confine  the  embellishment  of  such  a  mantel 


The  Principles  of  Interior  Decoration 


to  a  few  small  objects — three,  say,  or  at  the  most  five — 
or  to  a  plastic  frieze  toned  to  analogy  if  not  to  identity 
with  the  wall.  On  the  other  hand,  a  smaller  fireplace 


FIGURE  14. — The  comparatively  slight  projection  of  this  fire- 
place and  its  general  effect  of  lightness  warrant  the  addition  of 
an  important  element  to  the  over-mantel. 

in  the  same  room,  or  the  same  fireplace  in  a  larger  room, 
might  require  to  have  its  importance  as  the  dominant 
element  emphasized  in  the  treatment  of  the  over- 
mantel either  by  larger  and  more  ornate  shapes  or 
more  striking  coloring,  or  both. 

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The  Elements  of  Beauty 

While  the  subject  will  be  discussed  at  length  in  the 
chapter  on  the  dominant  hue,  we  may  note  in  this 
connection  that  a  given  hue  may  be  made  first  in 
importance  by  either  of  two  methods.  One  method 
is  to  make  all  the  important  hues  appearing  in  the  room 
blood-relations  by  a  process  of  infusion,  technically 
called  keying,  in  which  the  dominant  hue  appears  as  a 
constituent  of  all  the  other  hues.  Thus  in  a  scheme 
of  orange,  yellow  and  green  the  decorator  might  use 
light  golden  brown  walls,  antique  ivory  ceiling,  olive 
carpet,  olive  and  gold  hangings  trimmed  with  old  gold, 
ecru  curtains,  soft  yellow  lamp  shades,  nut-brown  fur- 
niture and  woodwork,  and  olive,  brown  and  gold 
furniture  coverings.  Here  all  the  hues  would  be  keyed 
to  yellow,  and  the  unity  of  the  treatment  would  be 
ensured  by  the  predominance  of  that  element.  Such 
a  color  scheme,  as  we  shall  see  later,  would  require 
to  be  vivified  by  a  note  of  the  complementary  color; 
but  this  requirement  does  not  affect  the  general  prin- 
ciple involved. 

The  second  method  is  to  cover  two-thirds  or  more 
of  all  the  decorative  surfaces  of  the  room  with  tones 
of  the  hue,  depending  upon  its  complementary,  helped 
out  by  small  accents  of  other  harmonious  colors,  for 
the  necessary  variety.  When  either  method  is  skill- 
fully employed  the  dominant  hue,  as  it  appears  in 
relatively  neutral  tones  in  the  background  surfaces  of 
the  room,  unifies  the  whole  decorative  treatment  while 
permitting  a  wide  variety  among  the  subordinate  ele- 
ments. In  a  particularly  happy  way  it  realizes  the 
ideal  of  principality  through  pervasion  rather  than 

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The  Principles  of  Interior  Decoration 

ascendancy,  since  it  permits  the  mind  to  follow  its 
natural  inclination  to  concern  itself  with  the  positive 
factors  of  its  environment — that  is,  with  the  objects 
in  the  room — while  at  the  same  time  the  unifying 
element  lies  at  the  back  of  consciousness. 

In  the  effort  to  acquire  a  sure  taste  for  effects  of 
unity,  principality  in  form  must  be  studied  carefully 
and  should  be  studied  progressively,  beginning  with 
the  simplest  leaf  and  flower  forms,  wherein  may  be 
noted  the  way  in  which  one  part  of  a  leaf  is  dominant, 
and  one  leaf  in  a  spray  of  leaves.  Simple  examples 
of  principality  are  found  in  the  anthemion  motive,  in 
the  volutes  of  Ionic  capitals,  in  vases  and  pottery. 
More  complex  examples  are  afforded  by  many  Persian 
rugs,  in  which  the  lanceolate  ellipse  of  the  medallion, 
reen forced  by  analogous  lines  in  the  corner  pieces  and 
the  inner  medallion,  dominates  the  whole  composition. 
In  many  of  the  Gothic  cathedrals  a  single  spire  dom- 
inates the  whole  edifice  and  gives  it  unity,  as  does  the 
dome  of  the  Capitol  at  Washington. 

By  the  method  of  repetition  unity  is  insured  through 
the  recurrence  of  identical  or  more  or  less  similar  lines, 
shapes,  hues,  tones,  textures,  and  proportions.  The 
method  can  be  applied  to  any  room,  under  any  condi- 
tions, and  may  be  made  to  yield  an  effect  either  marked 
or  slight,  obvious  or  subtle,  according  to  the  manner 
in  which  it  is  employed.  The  unifying  and  esthetically 
pleasurable  effect  of  repetition  has  a  double  basis.  It 
is  in  part  physiological,  and  is  due  to  the  fact  that  the 
perception  of  like  or  repeated  elements  involves  little 
muscular  effort,  whereas  the  perception  of  unlike 

94 


The  Elements  of  Beauty 

elements  necessitates  a  constant  movement  and  adjust- 
ment of  the  eye.  Psychologically,  repetition  is  asso- 
ciated in  the  mind  with  the  ideas  of  succession,  order 
and  regularity,  and  hence  with  the  sense  of  repose  and 
quiet  well-being  which  always  results  from  order  and 
regularity  in  the  affairs  of  life.  On  the  other  hand, 
change  and  non-succession  are  associated  with  the  ideas 
of  disorder,  irregularity  and  disquietude.  Thus  the 
recurrence  of  similar  lines  and  shapes,  as  in  the  repeti- 
tion of  a  pleasing  ornamental  motive  or  the  mechanical 
repetition  of  an  inconspicuous  pattern  on  the  walls  or 
floor,  affects  the  mind,  as  does  the  recurrence  of  musical 
cadences  or  the  rhythmic  repetition  of  rhymed  syllables, 
with  a  sense  of  quietude,  order,  and  calm  unity. 

In  good  decoration  the  method  of  repetition  is  em- 
ployed in  three  forms:  (a)  in  its  simplest  and  most 
common  form,  as  repeating  diaper  pattern,  which  is 
used  in  wall  papers,  in  damasks,  tapestries  and  other 
drapery  and  upholstery  stuffs,  in  all-over  carpets  and 
in  many  ornamental  plaster  ceilings,  to  cover  entire 
surfaces  with  the  same  motive  repeated  continuously; 
(b)  in  its  most  obvious  form,  as  symmetrical  repetition, 
wherein  each  color,  outline  or  mass  on  one  side  of  a 
real  or  ideal  center  is  balanced  by  a  like  color,  outline 
or  mass  on  the  other  side;  and  (c)  in  its  most  subtle 
form,  as  the  recurrence,  in  many  and  often  in  widely 
separated  parts  of  a  composition,  of  identical  or  similar 
lines,  shapes,  colors  or  significances. 

The  use  and  decorative  value  of  diaper  pattern  will 
be  discussed  in  the  chapters  on  proportion  and  excel- 
lence in  design,  while  symmetry  will  be  studied  in  the 

95 


The  Principles  of  Interior  Decoration 

chapter  on  balance.  This  latter  form  of  repetition 
has  a  marked  unifying  power.  Because  the  like  ele- 
ments lie  immediately  before  the  eye,  symmetry  makes 
it  easier  for  us  to  see  and  grasp  the  significance  of 
things  than  is  possible  in  non-symmetrical  arrange- 
ments of  decorative  features.  Thus  a  pair  of  identical 
candlesticks,  placed  at  equal  distances  from  the  center 
of  a  mantel,  would  have  an  effect  upon  the  mind  at 
once  unifying  and  obvious.  Symmetrical  repetition, 
whether  it  appears  in  the  two  halves  of  the  same  unit, 
as  in  a  chair,  a  rug,  or  a  window  hung  with  draperies, 
or  in  arrangements  of  several  units  as  groups,  as  in 
the  case  of  a  console  table  with  a  mirror  above  it  and 
identical  chairs  at  equal  distances  from  either  end,  is 
never  subtle.  Its  effect  is  always  obvious  and  always 
formal,  and  when  over-emphasized,  as  may  very  easily 
happen,  it  results  in  over-formality  and  stiffness. 

The  use  of  recurring  lines  and  shapes  and  echoed 
colors  lies  at  the  basis  of  all  fine  work  in  interior 
decoration,  as  in  architecture  and  the  other  visual  arts. 
The  constant  repetition  of  similar  combinations  in  both 
outline  and  ornament  constitutes  a  large  part  of  the 
charm  of  what  we  call  the  period  styles.  In  the  nature 
of  things  it  must  constitute  a  large  part  of  the  charm 
of  any  beautiful  room,  since,  as  we  have  seen,  it 
provides  one  of  the  conditions  in  the  absence  of  which 
beauty  cannot  be  made  to  appear.  Thus  the  repetition 
of  similar  straight  lines,  as  in  the  architecture  and 
decoration  of  Craftsman  houses,  makes  for  unity;  and 
so,  far  more  subtly,  does  the  repetition  of  identical  or 
similar  curves. 

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The  Elements  of  Beauty 

For  example,  the  cabriole  legs  found  in  Louis  XV, 
Dutch,  and  Queen  Anne  furniture,  and  in  many  fine 
Chippendale  pieces,  and  illustrated  in  Figure  10,  are 
based  on  the  cyma  recta,  or  line  of  beauty  curve, 
and  in  a  room  in  which  important  pieces  of  furniture 
of  this  type  are  used  a  subtle  effect  of  unity  in  variety 
can  be  produced  by  repeating  variations  of  this  same 
curve  in  the  outline  or  ornamental  details  of  lambre- 
quins, mirror  tops,  lighting  fixtures,  lamps,  candle- 
sticks, vases,  mantel  clocks,  andirons  and  firescreens; 
in  the  legs  and  finials  of  bookcase,  desk  or  cabinet; 
in  the  border  stripes  of  rugs,  the  seats  and  backs  of 
chairs,  the  molding  of  cornice,  trim  and  picture  frames. 
Of  course  this  does  not  mean  that  this  curve  must 
appear  in  all  these  situations.  In  fact,  as  will  be 
developed  in  the,,  chapter  on  Contrast,  over-emphasis 
of  any  type  of  line,  however  pleasing  in  itself,  results 
in  monotony  and  the  loss  of  decorative  charm.  What 
it  does  mean  is  that  the  curve  must  be  repeated  a  good 
many  times  and  in  various  situations  in  order  to  yield 
a  marked  yet  subtle  effect  of  unity,  and  that,  within 
reasonable  limits,  every  such  repetition  will  add  to  the 
mind's  pleasure. 

In  the  same  way  the  elliptical  medallion  of  a  rug 
may  be  repeated  in  an  elliptical  table,  in  a  mirror,  in 
chair-backs,  vases,  lamps,  candlesticks,  small  easel 
pictures,  ferneries  or  tea  tables;  and  suggested  more 
or  less  definitely  by  such  features  as  the  arc  of  a  half- 
elliptical  wall  table,  the  tops  of  book-blocks,  or  the 
defining  curves  of  valances  or  tied-back  draperies. 
The  oval  of  many  Hepple white  chair-backs  may  be 

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The  Principles  of  Interior  Decoration 

echoed  in  bowls,  lamps,  Italian  candlesticks,  andirons, 
bellows,  in  a  lamp  surmounted  by  a  mushroom  shade, 
in  the  echinus  or  egg  and  dart  molding.  A  round 
dining  table  may  be  related  to  an  oblong  dining  room 
by  means  of  an  oblong  rug  with  a  rounded  elliptical 
medallion,  by  hangings  or  a  frieze  having  a  pattern 
based  on  the  circle  or  hexagon,  by  a  round  bowl  of 
flowers,  a  round  Sheffield  tray,  a  Lazy  Susan,  or  by 
the  wheels  of  a  tea  wagon.  Similar  triangles  may 
appear  in  pediments,  lamp  shades  or  mantel  clocks,  as 
well  as  in  groupings  of  furniture  and  small  decorative 
objects;  and  similar  oblongs  in  ceilings,  wall  spaces, 
windows,  doors,  rugs,  table  tops,  pictures  or  books. 

The  repetition  of  color  is  absolutely  essential.  Each 
important  hue  must  be  recalled,  once  at  least  and  often 
many  times,  in  small  masses  and  in  more  or  less  widely 
varying  tones  throughout  the  room.  Because  of  the 
direct  appeal  of  color  the  mind  finds  a  peculiar  pleasure 
in  the  progressive  recognition  of  color  likenesses,  and 
will  accept  no  excuse  for  their  absence.  Thus  when 
the  hue  dominant  in  the  hangings  is  found  to  be  echoed 
in  many  parts  of  the  rug,  in  the  table  runner,  furniture 
coverings,  screens,  the  trimming  of  lamp  shades,  in 
cushions,  potteries,  pictures,  book  bindings  and  flowers, 
the  mind,  successively  perceiving  the  likenesses  as  the 
eye  turns  from  one  view  of  the  room  to  another,  is 
filled  with  an  increasing  delight. 

In  all  good  work  the  decorator  will  of  course  repeat 
both  form  and  color,  extending  the  process  to  include 
both  material  likenesses,  as  in  the  repetition  of  shapes, 
colors,  textures  and  ornamental  motives,  and  likenesses 

98 


The  Elements  of  Beauty 

in  significance,  as  in  the  employment  of  shapes  and 
colors  which  affect  the  mind  in  the  same  way.  Like- 
nesses in  emotional  value  or  significance  confirm  and 
vitalize  the  purely  physical  resemblances,  and  make 
powerfully  yet  subtly  for  artistic  unity.  Thus  we 
cannot  say  that  an  overstuffed  davenport  and  a  big, 
low-toned  rug  look  alike,  except  as  they  reveal  like- 
nesses in  hue  or  tone ;  but  it  is  certainly  true  that  they 
similarly  affect  the  mind,  and  are  accordingly  unifying 
when  used  together  in  composition.  The  creation  of 
these  convergences  of  expression  is  an  urgently  impor- 
tant part  of  the  decorator's  work,  and  the  artistic  aims 
and  processes  involved  will  be  discussed  in  several  of 
the  later  chapters. 

While  the  mere  presence  of  recurring  elements,  of 
whatever  sort,  tends  to  unify  any  decorative  compo- 
sition, it  is  clear  that  this  tendency  will  be  the  more 
marked  in  the  degree  (a)  that  the  like  elements  ap- 
proach identity;  (b)  that  like  elements  in  both  form 
and  color  are  repeated  convergently ;  and  (c)  that  these 
like  elements  are  so  placed  as  to  make  their  likenesses 
immediately  apparent  to  the  eye. 

Order  is  the  basic  esthetic  quality,  and  orderly  ar- 
rangements are  most  pleasing  and  convincing.  Effects 
of  parallelism,  in  which  analogous  lines  or  forms,  or 
varying  tones  of  a  given  hue  are  arranged  in  series, 
whether  vertically,  horizontally  or  obliquely,  are  as 
essential  to  good  work  in  decoration  as  they  are  in 
architecture  or  painting. 

The  unity  of  a  decorative  treatment  will  be  at  once 
most  strongly  and  most  subtly  emphasized  by  so  com- 

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The  Principles  of  Interior  Decoration 

bining  the  methods  of  principality  and  repetition  that 
the  dominant  element  in  the  room  is  made  the  focus 
or  point  of  departure  for  the  important  or  character- 
istic lines  and  colors  used  throughout  the  room,  as  the 
dominant  member  of  each  subordinate  group  of  related 
objects  is  made  the  focus  for  the  important  lines  and 
colors  of  the  other  members  of  the  group. 

As  illustrating  this  principle,  let  us  consider  that 
a  drawing  room  is  to  have  as  its  dominant  element  a 
Georgian  fireplace,  and  that  the  over-mantel  of  this 
fireplace  is  to  be  embellished  with  a  mirror  and  a  pair 
of  vases.  Assuming  that  a  rectangular  mirror  would 
resemble  the  space  it  was  to  adorn  so  closely  as  to  be 
obvious  and  inartistic,  while  an  elliptical  mirror  would 
be  so  strikingly  unlike  the  space  in  outline  as  not  to 
seem  an  organic  part  of  the  fireplace  group,  we  might 
compromise  upon  a  triptych  mirror  in  antique  gold, 
having  a  rectangular  base  and  a  half  elliptical  top,  and 
place  near  either  end  of  it  an  elliptical  vase  in  corn- 
flower blue.  To  set  up  an  effect  of  parallelism  we 
could  use  a  firescreen  having  a  similar  rectangular  base 
supported  by  half -elliptical  feet,  and  a  top  line  which 
repeated  the  top  curve  of  the  mirror;  while  the  method 
could  be  extended  by  the  use  of  a  rug  having  a  running 
vine  border  or  an  elliptical  medallion  center,  or  both. 
The  parallelism  would  of  course  be  repeated  in  color 
by  using  in  both  rug  and  screen  more  or  less  blue  of 
the  same  hue  but  different  in  tone  and  purity — say, 
navy  blue  in  the  rug  and  gentian  blue  in  the  screen. 

In  the  case  of  a  subordinate  group  in  the  same  room, 
to  be  formed,  for  example,  by  a  console  table  between 

100 


The  Elements  of  Beauty 


FIGURE  15. — The  same  type  of  curve  is  repeated  in  many  situa- 
tions, thus  adding  unity  through  repetition  to  unity  through  prin- 
cipality in  the  composition  of  the  dominant  element. 


TOI 


The  Principles  of  Interior  Decoration 

two  windows,  we  might  use  full  length  hangings 
caught  back  by  a  collar  in  such  a  way  as  to  describe 
with  their  inner  lines  quarter-elliptical  curves,  and  a 
lambrequin  or  valance  in  the  design  of  which  curved 
lines  adapted  from  the  arc  of  an  ellipse  were  freely 
employed.  The  table,  too,  would  be  half -elliptical. 
The  wall  space  might  be  adorned  by  an  elliptical  mirror, 
by  a  painting  having  the  middle  of  the  frame  at  the 
top  carved  into  a  half-elliptical  ornamental  motive,  or 
by  an  old  brocade  or  damask  with  a  large  elliptical  vase 
on  the  table  in  front  of  it.  The  same  processes  would 
be  applied  to  the  selection  and  arrangement  of  subor- 
dinate members  of  the  group,  and  to  the  coloring; 
provided,  of  course,  that  the  processes  of  repetition 
stopped  short  of  the  point  where  the  effect  ceased  to 
be  subtle  and  interesting  and  became  monotonous  and 
tiresome. 

Inasmuch  as  we  are  here  concerned  with  the  general 
principle  only  and  not  with  its  application,  it  is  un- 
necessary to  carry  this  idea  further,  or  to  point  out 
the  many  ways  in  which  the  two  methods  of  insuring 
unity  are  interwoven  in  practice,  so  that  principality 
in  color  is  affirmed  by  repetition  both  of  form  and 
color,  and  principality  in  form  is  affirmed  by  repetition 
both  of  color  and  form,  until  the  mind  is  conscious 
of  a  multitude  of  resemblances,  and  only  the  elements 
required  for  contrast  are  unrelated  to  the  rest.  The 
thing  is  obviously  simple.  And  yet,  simple  as  it  is, 
it  lies  at  the  basis  of  all  decorative  art  and  of  all  art, 
and  within  a  hand's  breadth  of  the  secret  of  beauty. 

It  must  be  remembered  that  in  the  perception  of 
1 02 


The  Elements  of  Beauty 


FIGURE  16. — The  type  of  line  announced  in  the  dominant  ele- 
ment is  repeated  in  a  subordinate  group. 

103 


The  Principles  of  Interior  Decoration 

beauty  the  mind  is  at  play.  It  cannot  be  forced,  and 
is  in  fact  curiously  childlike.  If  a  child  is  given  a 
picture  puzzle  and  finds  the  solution  too  easy  he  loses 
interest  at  once;  if  he  finds  it  too  difficult  he  tosses 
the  puzzle  away  and  turns  to  something  else.  The 
likenesses  of  line,  form,  color  and  significance  designed 
by  the  decorator  to  produce  an  effect  of  unity,  and 
thus  to  make  beauty  possible,  must  not  be  too  obvious, 
nor  must  they  be  obscure.  For  example,  if  upon  a 
relatively  high  and  narrow  wall  space  a  relatively  long 
and  narrow  rectangular  mirror  be  hung — assuming, 
for  the  purposes  of  this  illustration,  that  it  is  hung 
alone,  and  not  above  another  piece  of  furniture — the 
likenesses  in  the  two  forms  in  both  outline  and  pro- 
portion will  be  instantly  perceptible,  being  the  more 
obvious  in  the  degree  that  the  mirror  approaches 
identity  with  the  wall  space  in  size  and  in  the  ratio 
of  width  to  length.  If  a  long  and  narrow  elliptical 
mirror  be  substituted,  the  mind,  in  spite  of  the  differ- 
ence in  outline,  will  at  once  recognize  the  likeness  in 
proportion,  and  may  easily  find  pleasure  in  the  increas- 
ing subtlety  of  the  resemblance.  In  the  case  of  a  cir- 
cular mirror  the  mind  will  instantly  perceive  the  total 
dissimilarity  in  both  outline  and  proportion,  and  will 
accept  the  contrast  for  what  it  may  be  worth  in  the 
decorative  total  of  the  room.  But  if  a  short,  wide 
mirror  be  used — that  is,  if  the  axis  of  the  one  first 
used  be  reversed — there  will  be  perplexity  and  dis- 
pleasure; first,  because  the  eye  must  suddenly  reverse 
its  direction  in  order  to  see  both  forms,  and  this  takes 
time  and  breaks  the  rhythm  unpleasantly,  and,  sec- 

104 


The  Elements  of  Beauty 

ondly,  because  the  mind  must  suddenly  change  from 
the  idea  of  vertical  to  that  of  horizontal  extension, 
and  is  thus  conscious  of  unlikeness  in  significance  at 
the  same  time  that  it  slowly  becomes  aware  that  both 
forms  are  oblongs.  This  fact,  that  likenesses  to  be 
esthetically  pleasurable  must  be  neither  too  easy  nor 
too  hard  to  see,  largely  conditions  beauty  of  proportion, 
and  will  be  discussed  in  the  chapter  dealing  with  that 
topic. 

On  the  other  hand,  it  must  be  remembered  that  like- 
nesses by  no  means  imply  identity,  and  that  in  the 
degree  that  one's  taste  is  cultivated  and  his  mind  en- 
riched by  knowledge  of  the  field  of  ornament  and 
design  he  will  reject  the  obvious  and  find  pleasure  in 
the  subtle.  The  old-fashioned  parlor  set  has  been 
banished,  not  because  it  was  inherently  unfitting  and 
ugly,  but  rather  because  its  constant  repetition  of  the 
same  elements  was  esthetically  unstimulating  and  tire- 
some, just  as  the  ceaseless  iteration  of  a  single  musical 
phrase,  which  is  enough  to  satisfy  primitive  man,  gives 
place  with  advancing  culture  to  complex  harmonies, 
varying  rhythms,  and  delicate  nuances  of  expression. 

It  is  therefore  clear  that  the  power  to  perceive  and 
enjoy  decorative  resemblances  will  vary  with  each 
individual,  and  that  for  this  reason  the  decorator  must 
be  concerned  even  in  this  most  elusive  quality  of 
beauty  with  considerations  of  fitness.  A  cultivated 
taste  will  perceive  subtle  correspondences  imperceptible 
by  the  uncultivated,  and  to  each  must  be  offered  such 
things  as  he  can  see.  To  the  scientist  palm  and  pine 
are  alike,  and  a  single  fossil  bone  is  enough  to  reveal 

105 


The  Principles  of  Interior  Decoration 


FIGURE  17. —  (a)  Likeness  in  both  outline  and  proportion;  (b) 
likeness  in  proportion  but  not  in  outline;  (c)  unlikeness  in  both 
proportion  and  outline;  (d)  likeness  in  outline,  obscured  and 
made  esthetically  unpleasant  by  unlikeness  in  proportion. 


1 06 


The  Elements  of  Beauty 

complete  a  creature  that  perished  unnumbered  ages 
ago.  The  world  of  ornament,  like  the  world  of  nature, 
is  an  enormous  complex  in  which  many  widely  varying 
forms  are  in  some  way,  however  distant  and  obscure, 
related;  and  of  these  relations  one  man  will  see  more 
than  another.  To  the  one  the  interlacing  vines  and 
leaves  of  an  old  Gothic  tapestry,  copied  and  used  to 
cover  the  chair  in  which  he  sits,  may  have  nothing  in 
common  with  the  stiff,  crudely  branching  form  that 
appears  in  the  Beloochistan  rug  before  his  hearth;  but 
to  another  the  symbolism  of  the  tree  forms  in  each 
makes  them  alike,  and  together  they  carry  his  fancy 
backward,  past  Druid  rites,  past  Norse  mythology,  past 
Chaldea  and  Babylon,  past  the  Garden  of  Eden  itself, 
to  the  dim  beginnings  of  religion,  where  a  potent  god- 
dess lived  in  the  roots  of  a  tree  and  gave  forth  life 
to  all  the  world. 

Without  variety  in  unity,  one  in  the  manifold,  there 
can  be  no  beauty  in  decoration.  Unity  alone  means 
monotony  and  ennui;  variety  alone  means  confusion 
and  fatigue.  But  though  variety  and  unity  must  ap- 
pear together  in  the  same  decorative  treatment,  they 
need  not  appear  in  the  same  degree  and  they  can  in 
fact  appear  only  in  inverse  proportions.  To  increase 
the  effect  of  either  is  to  diminish  correspondingly  that 
of  the  other.  This  is  of  course  true  of  all  the  arts. 
Increasing  complexity  and  richness  must  always  be 
paid  for  in  diminishing  simplicity  and  force.  The 
clearness  of  the  aria  is  lost  in  the  intricacies  of  the 
fugue.  King  Lear  is  richer  than  the  Antigone,  and 
Faust  is  richer  than  Lear;  but  the  irresistible  march 

107 


The  Principles  of  Interior  Decoration 

of  the  Greek  tragedy  is  impeded  in  the  English,  and 
all  but  lost  in  the  German. 

In  periods  of  bad  decorative  art  diversity  is  empha- 
sized to  the  total  neglect  of  the  requirements  of  unity, 
and  in  periods  of  reaction  from  bad  art  unity  is  likely 
to  be  emphasized  to  the  total  neglect  of  the  require- 
ments of  diversity.  In  a  general  way,  esthetic  pleasure 
seems  to  increase  with  the  increasing  complexity  of  the 
stimuli  until  the  point  is  reached  where  unity  is  lost, 
and  complexity  degenerates  into  confusion.  Thus 
there  is  an  inevitable  tendency  toward  increasing  com- 
plexity, as  from  Doric  to  Alexandrian  architecture,  or 
from  the  Dutch  splat  chair  back  to  the  ribbon  back 
of  Chippendale.  After  the  point  of  confusion  has 
been  passed — often  long  after — a  reaction  sets  in, 
simpler  ideas  are  restored,  and  the  long  process  begins 
all  over  again.  Sometimes  this  reaction  is  gentle,  as 
when  Louis  XV  decoration  was  supplanted  by  that  of 
Louis  XVI,  and  sometimes  it  is  violent.  Decadent 
classicism  gives  way  to  primitive  Christianity,  and  the 
excesses  of  the  Cavaliers  are  succeeded  by  the  austerities 
of  Puritanism. 

The  rooms  of  thirty  years  ago  were  for  the  most 
part  unbeautiful  because  they  were  filled  with  diversi- 
ties in  form  and  color  to  the  total  neglect  of  any  prin- 
ciple of  likeness  and  subordination.  On  the  other  hand, 
our  Craftsman  rooms,  with  their  exclusively  plain  sur- 
faces, meager  colors,  and  unornamented  straight-line 
furniture,  are  for  the  most  part  unbeautiful  because 
they  neglect  the  variety  equally  essential  to  beauty. 

Between  these  two  extremes  there  is,  however,  oppor- 
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The  Elements  of  Beauty 

tunity  for  a  wide  range  of  variation  in  relative  empha- 
sis, and  here,  as  everywhere,  we  must  be  guided  in 
practice  by  considerations  of  fitness  to  purpose.  Rela- 
tive emphasis  upon  the  unity  or  the  diversity  of  a 
decorative  treatment  affects  us  emotionally,  the  former 
inducing  a  feeling  of  repose,  the  latter  of  animation  and 
cheerfulness.  These  states,  which  have  bases  at  once 
physical,  intellectual  and  emotional,  are  directly  and 
strongly  affected  by  the  home  environment,  and  are 
accordingly  in  a  very  considerable  measure  under  the 
control  of  the  decorator.  They  are  manifestly  anti- 
thetical, the  one  implying  restfulness  and  tranquillity, 
the  other  animation  and  buoyancy.  Each  is  essential 
to  the  well-being  of  all  normal  persons,  and  both  can 
of  course  exist  coincidentally,  but  only  in  inverse  pro- 
portions. When  the  intensity  of  either  is  increased 
that  of  the  other  is  diminished,  as  one  scale  of  a 
balance  must  go  up  when  the  other  is  weighted  down. 
The  decorator  must  accordingly  see  to  it  that  where  in 
the  decoration  of  a  given  room  repose  is  the  first  con- 
sideration his  emphasis  is  placed  upon  unity,  and  that 
where  cheerfulness  or  gayety  is  the  first  consideration 
the  emphasis  is  placed  upon  variety.  It  will  be  obvious, 
of  course,  that  in  general  the  complexity  and  strain  of 
modern  life  make  emphasis  of  the  quality  of  repose 
desirable  in  all  rooms  to  be  occupied  continuously  for 
any  length  of  time.  Tired  nerves  are  rested,  depleted 
vitality  restored,  and  efficiency  increased  by  it.  In  the 
average  family  of  socially  inclined,  sport-loving,  thea- 
ter-going people  there  is  more  danger  in  over-emphasis 
of  variety  than  of  unity.  Moreover,  the  decorator 

109 


The  Principles  of  Interior  Decoration 

must  always  remember  that  he  has  many  resources  at 
his  command,  and  that  it  would  be  bad  practice  artisti- 
cally to  over-use  any  one  of  them.  Effects  of  repose, 
as  we  have  seen,  may  be  produced  by  the  emphasis  of 
horizontal  extension ;  by  the  use  of  cool  colors,  of  low 
tones  of  any  hues,  and  of  closely  related  colors ;  by  re- 
ducing the  number  of  objects,  shapes  and  colors  in  a 
room;  by  increasing  the  degree  of  likeness  characteriz- 
ing these  objects,  shapes  and  colors ;  and  by  emphasizing 
the  importance  of  the  dominant  element.  The  same 
wealth  of  resources  is  available  for  the  expression  of 
any  other  motive.  Thus  there  is  opportunity  for  the  , 
widest  play  of  individual  fancy.  A  room  need  not  be  , 
bare  in  order  to  be  restful  or  restrained,  or  crowded 
with  ornament  to  be  cheerful. 


1 10 


CHAPTER  VIII 

THE  LAW  OF  CONTRAST 

WE  have  seen  that  beauty  springs  from  unity 
in  diversity,  and  that  unity  results  from 
processes  of  comparison  wherein  like  is 
placed  with  like — like  lines,  or  shapes,  or 
colors,  or  significances — until  the  multiplicity  of  indi- 
vidual units  is  related  to  a  few  types,  and  of  these  types 
one  becomes  dominant.     Yet,  though  this  conforms  to 
the  law  of  its  being,  the  mind,  like  a  child  at  play, 
quickly  tires  of  the  same  old  types.     It  will  return  to 
them;  it  must  know  all  the  time  that  they  are  there; 
but  for  the  moment  its  interest  can  be  retained  only  by 
showing  it  something  different. 

Contrast,  as  an  artistic  principle,  is  the  result  of  this 
necessity.  It  is  a  means  of  giving  zest  to  decorative 
compositions  which,  however  harmonious,  would  with- 
out it  be  insipid.  It  opposes  curved  lines  to  straight, 
plain  surfaces  to  ornamented,  light  tones  to  dark,  and 
warm  colors  to  cold,  and  by  this  opposition  gives  the 
charm  of  vividness  to  each. 

In  this,  of  course,  artistic  practice  merely  conforms 
to  the  general  law  of  life,  since  all  our  states,  both 
physical  and  emotional,  are  intensified  by  contrast.  Sun- 
shine always  seems  more  brilliant  after  shadow,  tran- 

lii 


The  Principles  of  Interior  Decoration 

quillity  more  grateful  after  excitement.  It  is  indeed 
only  through  contrast  that  we  can  discriminate  between 
one  state  or  emotion  and  another.  We  can  enjoy 
warmth  only  because  we  have  known  cold,  and  rest  be- 
cause we  have  known  effort.  We  perceive  form  or  out- 
line only  where  there  is  a  contrast  of  hue  or  tone.  We 
know  smooth  textures  through  contrast  with  rough,  and 
warm  colors  through  contrast  with  cold;  while  lines, 
shapes  and  colors  are  set  off  and  their  peculiar  qualities 
made  more  marked  through  contrast  with  their  op- 
posites. 

It  happens,  therefore,  that  in  the  effort  so  to  select 
and  arrange  the  furnishings  of  a  given  room  as  to  make 
the  room  beautiful,  the  esthetic  problem  of  the  decor- 
ator is  twofold.  He  must  first  of  all  ensure  an  easily 
perceptible  unity  through  principality  and  the  repeti- 
tion of  like  elements,  and  he  must  also  invest  his  room 
with  a  quality  of  interest  and  decorative  charm  through 
the  opposition  of  contrasting  elements.  The  contrasts 
chiefly  employed  will  be  those  of  hue,  in  which  hues 
more  or  less  markedly  unlike  are  used  together;  of 
tone,  in  which  relatively  light  tones  are  opposed  to 
relatively  dark;  of  purity,  in  which  relatively  pure  col- 
ors are  opposed  to  relatively  neutral;  of  textures;  of 
lines;  of  shapes;  and  of  ornamented  surfaces  as  op- 
posed to  plain. 

Besides  its  esthetic  importance,  contrast  appears  in 
decoration  as  a  physical  factor,  the  operation  of  which 
is  to  make  unlike  elements  seem  more  unlike.  It  is 
in  the  nature  of  our  perceptive  faculties  that  when  un- 
like things  are  compared  their  unlikeness  is  accentu- 

112 


The  Law  of  Contrast 


FIGURE  18. 


ated.  When  we  see  a  tall  chair  and  a  low  chair  in  the 
same  group  the  tall  one  appears  to  be  taller  than  it  really 
is,  and  the  short  one  still  shorter  by  contrast.  A  picture 
hung  in  the  midst  of  a  large  wall  space  seems  smaller 
than  it  would  if  hung 
in  a  small  space;  a 
long  room  appears 
longer  if  it  is  also 
narrow ;  a  round  mir- 
ror on  a  rectangular 
wall  space  is  more 
striking  than  a  rectangular  mirror  would  be;  pale 
colors  appear  more  pale  against  darker  grounds;  hues 
more  intense  against  their  complementaries ;  and  a 
richly  figured  drapery  fabric  gains  in  emphasis  and 
distinction  from  being  hung  against  a  plain  wall  fabric. 
Figures  18  and  19,  taken  from  Lipp'sRaumaesthetik 
und  geometrisch-optische  Tauschungen,  illustrate  this 
physical  effect  of  contrast.  In  the  first  figure  the  first 
and  second  lines  are  of  equal  length,  as  are  the  third 
and  fourth,  and 
the  fifth  and  sixth; 
yet  the  second  ap- 
pears to  be  dis- 
tinctly shorter  than 
the  first,  and  the  FIGURE  19. 

fourth      distinctly 

shorter  than  the  third.  In  the  second  figure  the  two 
mean  circles  are  of  the  same  diameter,  but  through 
contrast  with  the  two  extremes  the  second  is  made  to 
appear  smaller  than  the  third. 


The  Principles  of  Interior  Decoration 

Like  phenomena  appear  constantly  in  decoration. 
Whenever  the  treatment  of  a  room  is  so  arranged  that 
the  eye  makes  a  comparison  of  similar  lines  of  differ- 
ent lengths,  or  of  similar  shapes  of  different  sizes,  their 
apparent  differences  are  increased  by  the  contrast.  Din- 
ing chairs  placed  against  a  vertically  paneled  wall  ap- 
pear lower  and  more  squat  by  reason  of  the  contrast  be- 
tween the  lines  of  their  backs  and  those  of  the  paneling; 
small  tables  look  even  smaller  in  a  big  room,  as  do  small 
rugs  on  a  large  floor  space ;  a  bookcase,  highboy,  chest 
of  drawers  or  piano  will  appear  wider  in  a  narrow  space, 
narrower  in  a  wide  space ;  taller  in  a  room  with  a  low 
ceiling,  and  shorter  in  a  room  with  a  high  ceiling. 

For  the  same  reason,  whenever  one  dimension  of  a 
room  or  of  any  object  is  emphasized,  the  other  dimen- 
sions are  apparently  diminished.  A  narrow  bookcase, 
cabinet  or  chair  appears  to  be  taller  than  a  wide  piece 
of  the  same  actual  height,  as  a  couch  without  a  back 
seems  to  be  longer  than  a  high-backed  settee  of  the 
same  actual  length.  The  practical  importance  of  these 
considerations,  which  will  be  developed  at  length  in  the 
chapter  on  Proportion,  lies  in  the  fact  that  beauty  and 
fitness  in  decoration  are  so  largely  dependent  upon  the 
apparent — as  opposed  to  the  actual — relationships  in 
size  and  shape  among  the  elements  of  a  composition; 
and  inasmuch  as  contrast  is  sure  to  change  the  appar- 
ent relationships  in  some  degree  the  decorator  must 
be  prepared  to  foresee  and  allow  for  these  changes. 

Colors,  even  more  than  shapes,  are  affected  by  con- 
trast. Color  practice  is  in  fact  immensely  complicated 
by  the  fact  that  a  color  is  never  seen  by  itself,  but  al- 

114 


The  Law  of  Contrast 


ways  in  relation  to  other  colors.  These  other  colors 
react  upon  it,  altering  in  some  degree  its  appearance 
both  in  hue  and  in  tone.  Chevreul  set  forth  the  gen- 
eral principle  involved  in  the  formula:  When  the  eye 
sees  at  the  same  time  two  contiguous  colors,  they  will 
appear  as  dissimilar  as  possible,  both  in  optical  com- 
position and  in  height  of  tone. 

The  changes  effected  by  contrast  in  altering  the  height 
of  tone  of  juxtaposed  colors  is  illustrated  by  Figure  20. 
Here  the  small  inner  squares  are  all  of  exactly  the 


FIGURE  20. 

same  tone  of  gray,  but  they  appear  to  grow  progres- 
sively darker  as  the  outer  surfaces  grow  progressively 
lighter.  The  same  phenomena  appear  when  dark  pic- 
tures or  hangings  are  placed  against  light  walls,  or 
when  light  rugs  are  placed  on  a  darker  floor.  More- 
over they  appear  whether  the  juxtaposed  surfaces  are 
in  tones  of  neutral  gray,  in  tones  of  the  same  hue,  or 
in  tones  of  different  hues,  as  when  a  light  red  pillow 
is  placed  against  a  dark  blue  sofa.  In  the  latter  case, 
however,  there  is  a  double  effect.  Not  only  will  the 
red  appear  lighter  and  the  blue  darker  in  tone,  but  each 


The  Principles  of  Interior  Decoration 

hue  will  also  appear  to  be  slightly  tinged  with  the 
complementary  of  the  other.  That  is,  the  red  will  be 
slightly  tinged  at  the  point  of  contact  with  orange, 
and  the  blue  with  green. 

This  phenomenon,  which  is  called  simultaneous  con- 
trast and  is  described  and  illustrated  in  every  good  text- 
book on  optics,  is  of  less  importance  in  decoration  than 
in  painting,  because  the  decorative  areas  are  larger  and 
the  textures  coarser.  Nevertheless  it  is  sufficiently  im- 
portant to  require  careful  study  and  constant  watch- 
fulness in  practice.  It  may  be  observed  by  placing 
small  squares  of  colored  paper  against  differently  col- 
ored backgrounds,  or  by  means  of  lengths  of  plain  drap- 
ery fabrics.  If  a  piece  of  orange-colored  velvet,  for 
example,  be  held  against  successive  backgrounds  of 
black,  white,  ultramarine  and  green,  it  will  seem  to 
change  color  slightly  with  each  background.  Against 
black  it  will  appear  not  only  lighter  but  more  golden, 
because  the  lighter  or  yellow  element  in  its  composition 
is  more  strongly  accentuated  by  tone  contrast  than  is  the 
darker  or  red  element.  Against  white  it  will  appear 
both  darker  and  more  red,  for  the  opposite  reason. 
Against  its  complementary  blue  it  gains  in  purity  and 
brilliancy,  and  against  green  it  becomes  more  reddish 
in  hue,  because  it  is  tinged  by  the  complementary  of  the 
green  ground.  Thus  when  red  and  blue  are  juxtaposed 
the  red  tends  toward  orange-red  and  the  blue  toward 
green-blue;  yellow  and  green  tend  respectively  to- 
ward orange-yellow  and  bluish  green;  green  and  blue 
toward  yellowish-green  and  purple;  and  so  on.  When 

116 


The  Law  of  Contrast 

true  complementary  hues  are  juxtaposed  each  is  made 
more  brilliant  by  the  contrast. 

What  is  true  of  the  spectrum  colors  is  true  of  all 
their  derivatives  formed  with  black,  gray  and  white,  in 
direct  proportion  to  the  amount  of  white  light  in  the 
color.  Very  light  broken  tones  impart  their  comple- 
mentaries  more  strongly  than  do  darker  tones,  and  are 
accordingly  better  adapted  for  the  production  of  bril- 
liant or  elusive  color  effects.  Simultaneous  contrast  is 
most  marked  when  the  two  hues  are  in  about  the  same 
tone.  When  dark  colors  are  used  with  light  the  effect 
of  simultaneous  contrast  is  very  slight.  Contrast  both 
in  hue  and  in  height  of  tone  is  made  very  much  less 
marked  by  the  use  of  materials  of  rough  surface,  coarse 
texture,  or  conspicuous  design. 

In  discussing  tone  contrast  it  is  of  course  to  be  re- 
membered that  tones,  as  we  have  defined  the  word,  are 
simply  measures  of  relative  light  and  darkness,  the  idea 
of  hue  or  color  proper  being  abstracted.  We  are  not 
in  this  connection  concerned  with  correct  hue  relation- 
ships, but  with  correct  tone  relationships,  which  is  an 
entirely  different  matter.  Thus  it  often  happens  that 
a  color  contrast  entirely  satisfactory  as  far  as  the  hues 
are  concerned  is  inharmonious  because  of  bad  tone  con- 
trast. A  dull  gold  cushion  on  a  dark  blue  davenport 
would  be  pleasing;  a  cushion  of  pale  maize  or  primrose 
would  not  be. 

Tone  contrast  is  a  factor  of  very  great  importance  in 
interior  decoration.  Necessarily  an  element  in  every 
decorative  problem,  it  must  be  carefully  studied  and 

117 


The  Principles  of  Interior  Decoration 

skillfully  employed.  When  so  employed  it  becomes  a 
source  of  beauty;  when  otherwise  employed  a  source 
of  discord  and  unrest.  Nowhere  in  the  art  do  we  find 
a  stronger  confirmation  of  the  statement  that  good 
decoration  is  not  absolute  but  relative,  and  that  the 
essential  thing  is  correct  relationship ;  for  it  constantly 
happens  that  a  color,  pleasing  in  itself,  is  so  changed 
in  tone  by  contiguous  colors  that  it  becomes  unpleasing. 
The  pastel  or  water  color  that  blends  rest  fully  into  the 
background  of  a  soft  gray  wall  will  seem  to  start 
violently  from  a  dark  wall.  The  low-toned  Kurdistan 
rug  that  rests  as  peacefully  upon  a  dark  floor  as  if  it 
had  grown  there  will  ruin  the  repose  of  any  room  in 
which  it  is  placed  upon  a  floor  of  light  yellow  oak  or 
maple. 

Contrast  of  tone,  like  contrast  of  line,  form  or  hue,  is 
essential  in  good  decoration  because  it  helps  to  ensure 
the  diversity  without  which  beauty  is  impossible.  Thus 
tone  contrast  is  necessary  between  floor  and  wall,  wall 
and  ceiling,  background  and  ornament,  and  between  the 
structural  and  non-structural  parts  of  a  room.  It  is 
however  a  serious  mistake  to  make  these  contrasts  too 
marked,  since  they  inevitably  tend  to  arouse  a  sense  of 
activity  and  hence  to  be  destructive  of  repose.  Many 
rooms  have  been  spoiled  by  too  sharp  contrast  between 
floor  and  wall,  and  many  more  by  too  sharp  contrast 
between  wall  and  ceiling — the  latter  defect  being  very 
common  by  reason  of  the  widespread  but  erroneous 
idea  that  the  ceiling  must  always  be  either  white  or  a 
pale  cream,  regardless  of  the  tone  of  the  walls. 

Bad  tone  contrast  appears  most  frequently,  however, 
118 


The  Law  of  Contrast 

and  in  the  form  most  destructive  of  repose  and  beauty, 
in  sharp  contrasts  between  small  masses,  or  between  a 
small  and  a  large  mass.  The  motive  in  carpet  or  wall 
paper  which  is  markedly  lighter  or  darker  than  its  back- 
ground, and  therefore  appears  to  stand  out  in  a  definite 
effect  of  relief;  the  ebony  piano  against  putty-colored 
walls,  or  the  large  mahogany  dresser  against  pearl  or 
pale  French  gray;  pale-tinted  cushions  against  dark, 
heavy  upholstered  furniture ;  dark  verdure  tapestry  pa- 
pers in  a  frieze  above  white  paneled  walls — these  and 
a  multitude  of  like  offenses  against  harmonious  tone 
relationships  are  constantly  to  be  met  with. 

Monotone  is  tiresome,  and  to  normal  persons  unen- 
durable. The  eye  is  never  satisfied  unless  the  visual 
field  presents  a  diversity  of  tones.  However,  it  must 
first  of  all  be  an  orderly  diversity,  as  otherwise  the 
effect  would  be  so  incoherent  that  the  mind  could  recog- 
nize essential  tonal  likenesses  only  with  a  sense  of  effort. 
Disorder  is  never  an  esthetic  quality,  but  is  rather  the 
most  fecund  source  of  ugliness.  If,  in  order  to  demon- 
strate this  fact  experimentally,  one  will  take  five  small 
oblongs  of  plain  neutral  gray,  say  one  by  two  inches  in 
size,  and  varying  progressively  in  tone  from  dark  to 
light,  and  will  place  these  oblongs  side  by  side  in  every 
possible  combination,  it  will  be  found  that  the  only 
esthetically  pleasing  arrangement  is  one  in  which  the 
tones  vary  progressively  from  one  extreme  to  the  other. 
Thus  the  eye  is  able  to  take  in  the  whole  series  with  the 
least  effort,  and  the  mind  judges  of  the  nature  of  each 
tone,  perceives  without  effort  the  elements  of  likeness, 
and  is  content. 

119 


The  Principles  of  Interior  Decoration 

Orderly  tone  relationships  give  atmosphere  and  co- 
herence and  organic  unity  to  a  decorative  treatment, 
and  are  as  much  as  any  other  single  factor  responsible 
for  its  beauty  and  charm.  In  the  treatment  of  back- 
ground surfaces  this  orderly  arrangement  will  work  up- 
ward in  an  ascending  scale,  from  the  floor  through  the 
walls  to  the  ceiling.  Rooms  in  which  this  order  is  re- 
versed by  using  darker  tones  on  the  walls  and  ceiling 
and  lighter  tones  on  the  floor  have  in  general  a  top- 
heavy  and  disturbing  appearance,  because  the  mind 
through  age-long  processes  of  association  has  come  in- 
stinctively to  regard  dark-colored  forms  and  surfaces  as 
heavier  in  weight  than  light-colored  forms  and  sur- 
faces. Accordingly  it  wants  to  see  the  darker  masses 
below  the  horizontal  center  of  the  room  for  the  sake 
of  stability,  with  the  darkest  at  the  base ;  and  the  lighter 
masses  above  the  horizontal  center  for  the  sake  of 
buoyancy  and  lightness,  with  the  lightest  at  the  top. 
Thus  in  a  carefully  furnished  room  the  three  back- 
ground surfaces,  floor,  walls  and  ceiling,  constitute  three 
distinct  zones, 'each  characterized  by  a  dominant  tone 
quality.  Within  each  of  these  zones  there  may  be  in 
good  work  wide  contrast  both  in  hue  and  in  purity. 
There  ought  not,  however,  to  be  any  very  wide  con- 
trasts in  tone,  and  in  general  we  may  say  that  the  less 
the  tranquillity  of  the  zone  atmosphere  is  broken  by 
contrasts  of  tone,  beyond  the  minimum  essential  to  the 
proper  outline  and  emphasis  of  form,  the  greater  will 
be  the  chance  of  beauty  in  the  room. 

In  practice  the  tranquillity  of  the  floor  zone  will  be 
disturbed  by  the  use  of  a  carpet  or  rug  having  a  dark 

1 20 


The  Law  of  Contrast 

ground  with  light  ornamental  motives  or  a  light  ground 
with  dark  motives ;  by  a  dark  rug  on  a  light  floor  or  a 
light  rug  on  a  dark  floor,  with  the  effect  strikingly  inten- 
sified, of  course,  when  several  small  rugs  are  used ;  and 
by  the  use  of  light  furniture  and  upholstery  fabrics  on 
a  dark  floor  covering  or  the  converse.  Similarly  the 
tranquillity  of  the  wall  zone  will  be  disturbed  by  the  use 
of  very  light  walls  with  dark  surbase  or  dado,  trim,  or 
fireplace,  or  the  converse ;  or  by  dark  hangings,  pictures, 
cabinets  or  heavy  chairs,  or  even  small  decorative  ac- 
cessories against  markedly  light  walls,  or  the  converse ; 
while  dark  beams  against  a  very  light  ceiling  will  have 
the  same  unesthetic  result.  This  does  not  mean  that 
tone  contrasts  within  a  given  zone  must  be  reduced  to 
the  extreme  minimum ;  but  it  does  mean  that  such  con- 
trasts must  be  reduced,  both  in  number  and  in  inten- 
sity, to  the  point  where  effects  of  spottiness  are  elim- 
inated, and  the  essential  tone  unity  of  the  zone  is  in- 
stantly apparent. 

It  is  to  be  noted  that  contrast  can  give  interest,  zest 
and  animation  through  the  opposition  of  unlike  ele- 
ments either  irregularly  and  as  it  were  capriciously, 
in  which  case  it  serves  merely  to  accent  or  give  snap, 
or  regularly  and  rhythmically,  in  which  case  the  con- 
trast itself  becomes  an  element  of  unity  in  the  compo- 
sition of  the  room.  A  simple  illustration  is  afforded 
by  the  case  of  blue  and  gold  draperies.  These  colors 
contrast  sharply,  both  in  hue  and  tone,  and  when  used 
together  they  are  certain  to  give  an  effect  of  snap  and 
animation,  the  intensity  of  the  effect  depending  on  the 
purity  of  the  hues  and  the  area  of  the  contrasting  sur- 

121 


The  Principles  of  Interior  Decoration 


faces.    In  a  blue  and  gold  damask  or  velvet  these  colors 
are  combined  in  a  repeating  design,  and  the  regular  and 


liiiininiiiiiiiii 


FIGURE  21. —  (a)  Sharp  contrast,  serving  merely  to  accent  and 
define;  (b)  same  contrast  rhythmically  repeated,  and  therefore 
unifying. 

rhythmic  recurrence  of  the  same  combinations  of  the 
two  hues  constitutes  not  only  a  contrast,  but  a  powerful 

122 


The  Law  of  Contrast 

unifying  factor  in  the  room.  If  on  the  other  hand 
plain  blue  hangings  are  trimmed  with  a  gold  galloon,  or 
if  plain  gold  hangings  are  outlined  with  a  gimp  or 
fringe  of  blue,  the  contrast  serves  merely  as  an  accent. 
Of  course  this  plain  blue  fringe  would  in  practice  be 
made  to  repeat  a  blue  in  the  rug,  or  in  some  other  im- 
portant element  on  or  near  the  floor,  thus  serving  to 
unify  the  general  scheme;  but  so  far  as  the  hangings 
alone  are  concerned  its  whole  function  is  to  set  off  and 
emphasize  by  contrast  the  peculiar  quality  of  the  plain 
gold. 

In  the  design  of  rugs  and  furniture,  as  in  the  com- 
position of  the  room  as  a  whole,  straight  and  curved 
lines  are  similarly  combined  in  regular  or  rhythmic 
relationships,  so  that  while  the  alternation  of  these  lines 
is  esthetically  pleasing  and  stimulating,  the  total  effect 
is  nevertheless  restful  because  unifying.  But  when 
these  combinations  of  unlike  outlines  are  not  repeated 
or  echoed — as  when  a  round  or  elliptical  mirror  is 
placed  between  the  straight  supports  of  a  straight- 
lined  dresser  or  hung  above  a  rectangular  wall  table  or 
cabinet,  or  when  a  circular  pillow  is  used  on  a  big 
straight-lined  davenport — no  element  of  likeness  is 
present  and  the  contrast  stands  out  in  sharp  relief. 

While  it  is  clearly  impossible  to  formulate  rules  for 
the  employment  of  contrast  in  decorative  practice,  be- 
cause its  use,  like  everything  else  in  the  art,  must 
be  governed  by  the  requirements  of  fitness  and  by  the 
dictates  of  individual  feeling,  a  few  considerations 
ought  always  to  be  borne  in  mind  by  the  decorator.  In 
general  it  must  be  remembered  that  contrast,  whether 

123 


The  Principles  of  Interior  Decoration 

of  color,  form  or  texture,  is  esthetically  pleasing  sim- 
ply because  it  relieves  the  mind  from  the  sense  of  too 


FIGURE  22. — Dresser  and  mirror  in  sharp  contrast.  Note  that 
a  circular  mirror  is  unpleasant  when  hung  with  two  vertical 
cords.  See  Figure  40. 

much  likeness,  or  harmony,  just  as  occasional  changes 
in  tempo,  rhythm  or  force  in  music  relieve  the  mind  and 

124 


The  Law  of  Contrast 

add  interest  and  charm.  But  in  decoration,  as  in  music, 
whenever  the  number  of  elements  introduced  for  con- 
trast becomes  so  great,  or  their  opposition  so  sharp,  that 
the  mind  fails  to  perceive  without  effort  the  predomi- 
nant likenesses  or  unity  of  the  composition  its  beauty 
is  impaired  or  destroyed.  Hence  the  number  of  such 
contrasts  must  in  any  case  be  limited.  Moreover,  con- 
trast means  a  sense  of  activity;  and  while  there  must 
be  some  activity  everywhere  except  in  death,  the  amount 
of  it  desirable  in  a  room  to  be  occupied  day  in  and 
day  out  is  less  than  might  be  supposed.  It  will  vary, 
of  course,  with  the  purpose  of  the  room  and  the  tastes, 
pursuits  and  health  of  the  people  who  use  the  room, 
and  with  the  size  of  the  room  itself.  Activity  always 
requires  a  clear  space.  Hence  a  degree  and  intensity 
of  contrast  agreeable  in  a  large  room  would  be  intol- 
erable in  a  small  one. 

However,  the  primary  consideration  must  always 
be  the  motive  or  emotional  significance  of  the  deco- 
rative scheme.  We  have  seen  that  the  repose  and 
tranquillity  of  a  room  vary  directly  with  the  empha- 
sis placed  upon  the  unity  in  its  treatment,  while  its 
effect  of  cheerfulness  and  animation  varies  directly 
with  the  emphasis  placed  upon  diversity.  Thus  rela- 
tive uniformity,  either  in  color  or  in  outline,  tends 
to  emphasize  the  tranquillity,  seriousness  and  dignity 
of  a  room,  and  this  effect  is  enhanced  by  convergence 
of  both  color  and  outline;  while  relative  absence  of 
uniformity,  as  it  results  from  the  free  employment 
of  contrast,  tends  to  emphasize  the  effect  of  gayety 
and  animation.  Few  contrasts,  and  those  of  mini- 

125 


The  Principles  of  Interior  Decoration 

mum  intensity,  give  to  a  decorative  treatment  an  ef- 
fect of  quiet  and  softness;  while  sharp  contrasts 
tend  to  produce  a  powerful  effect,  in  direct  pro- 
portion to  the  size  of  the  contrasting  masses  and 
the  degree  of  their  unlikeness.  Sir  Joshua  Rey- 
nolds pointed  out  that  the  style  of  painting  in  which 
strong  colors  are  opposed  to  one  another  in  large 
masses  is  grander  and  more  striking  than  one 
in  which  the  colors  are  used  in  more  nearly  uniform 
intensity,  or  smaller  areas,  and  tenderly  blended;  and 
the  same  differences  obviously  result  from  varying 
degrees  of  emphasis  in  contrasts  of  shapes  and  sizes. 

In  practice  the  mere  fact  of  contrast  is  very  much 
less  important  than  the  intensity  of  the  contrast,  and 
this  is  particularly  true  of  color.  Red  and  green  of 
one-fourth  intensity  or  less  form  a  contrast  agreeable 
in  large  areas ;  red  and  green  of  spectral  purity  would 
be  intolerable  in  any  except  minute  quantities.  Colors 
may  be  contrasted  in  hue,  purity,  or  tone,  or  in  any 
two  or  all  three  of  these  constants  simultaneously. 
One  of  these  elements  is  sufficient  for  many  contrasts, 
and  for  practical  purposes  two  constitute  the  limit. 
Thus  a  blue  and  gold  damask  offers  a  contrast  in  both 
hue  and  tone.  To  make  a  difference  in  the  purity  of 
the  hues  would  be  altogether  too  much. 

When  contrast  is  employed  purely  for  accent,  or 
to  give  snap  to  the  room,  the  decorator  must  be  gov- 
erned by  the  fact  that  every  sharp  contrast  is  in  ef- 
fect a  royal  invitation  to  the  eye,  which  is  bound  by 
its  nature  to  attend  to  a  powerful  stimulus.  Accord- 
ingly he  must  first  of  all  see  to  it  that  the  element 

126 


The  Law  of  Contrast 

thrown  into  prominence  by  the  contrast  is  in  itself 
beautiful,  or  at  least  interesting,  since  to  force  into  an 
unnecessary  prominence  an  object  or  material  intrin- 
sically ugly  or  commonplace  would  be  worse  than  folly. 
An  ill-designed  embroidered  sofa  cushion,  for  ex- 
ample, will  remain  fairly  inoffensive  if  it  is  in  the  same 
color  or  tone  as  the  sofa  covering;  but  when  an  ugly 
light  cushion  is  placed  against  a  dark  background,  or 
when  an  ugly  cushion  of  any  tone  is  placed  against 
its  complementary  hue,  all  its  ugliness  is  brought 
out  for  all  the  world  to  see.  Similarly  a  bad  picture 
or  an  ill-looking  carved  chair  will  be  more  noticeable 
against  a  plain  wall  than  against  one  covered  with  an 
inconspicuous  all-over  design,  and  its  visible  ugliness 
will  increase  directly  with  the  degree  of  contrast,  in 
hue,  tone  and  texture,  between  the  object  and  its  back- 
ground. 

Moreover,  the  decorator  must  see  to  it  that  the  point 
of  (sharpest  contrast  coincides  with  the  point  of  greatest 
decorative  interest.)  A  spirited  picture,  for  example, 
will  have  its  decorative  importance  enhanced  by  con- 
trast with  the  wall.  But  if  the  picture  be  mounted  on 
a  very  light  mat  and  hung  against  a  relatively  dark 
wall  the  point  of  sharpest  contrast  will  lie  at  the 
juncture  of  the  wall  and  mat  surfaces,  and  the  deco- 
rative value  of  the  picture  will  be  diminished  if  not 
entirely  lost.  Finally,  the  contrasting  element  must 
be  so  placed  as  to  satisfy  the  sense  of  balance.  This 
matter  is  comparatively  unimportant  when  the  con- 
trasting element  is  itself  small  and  unimportant — as, 
for  example,  when  a  little  purple  vase  is  placed  on  a 

127 


The  Principles  of  Interior  Decoration 

small  satinwood  table;  but  in  the  degree  that  the 
element  is  large  or  decoratively  important  it  must  be 
placed  in  a  carefully  balanced  relation  to  the  back- 
ground. Her  Grace  may  wear  a  mouche  anywhere 
from  her  eye  to  her  chin,  but  her  coronet  must  go  on 
straight. 

In  conclusion  we  may  note  that  here  as  everywhere 
in  decoration  wisdom  lies  in  moderation.  Contrast 
loses  all  its  pleasantness  and  stimulating  quality  when 
used  too  freely.  Too  many  elements  introduced  for 
contrast,  and  too  sharp  differences  among  them,  will 
destroy  the  repose  and  mar  the  beauty  of  any  room. 
And  while  the  amount  and  the  intensity  of  contrast  is 
properly  very  largely  a  matter  of  individual  feeling,  it 
is  certainly  true  of  the  individual,  as  of  the  race  and 
the  epoch,  that  the  more  highly  one's  taste  is  cultivated 
the  less  one  welcomes  strong  contrasts. 


128 


CHAPTER  IX 

PROPORTION 

A  FURNISHED  room  does  not  grow  as  do  the 
lilies  of  the  field.     It  must  be  fashioned  by 
studied  creative  processes.    Yet  it  is  the  dis- 
tinguishing characteristic  and  highest  excel- 
lence of  a  perfectly  furnished  room  that  it  appears  to 
be  not  a  creation  but  a  growth.     In  every  such  room 
each  part  is  so  subtly  related  to  all  the  other  parts  and 
to  the  whole  that  the  relationship  appears  to  be  or- 
ganic.    As  a  result  of  faultless  calculation  there  is  no 
evidence  of  calculation.     The  completed  room  seems 
to  have  grown  spontaneously  to  a  perfection  to  which 
nothing  could  be  added  and  from  which  nothing  could 
be  taken  away. 

This  organic  harmony  is  dependent  first  of  all  upon 
proportion.  Indeed  proportion,  or  the  relation  or 
adaptation  of  one  portion  to  another,  or  to  the  whole, 
as  respects  magnitude,  quality  or  degree,  is  the  domi- 
nant element  in  interior  decoration,  as  it  is  in  all  the 
arts  of  design.  Not  only  the  beauty  of  every  form  in 
nature  and  in  art,  but  its  essential  character  and  sig- 
nificance as  well,  is  conditioned  by  the  relationships 
borne  by  each  of  its  parts  to  all  the  other  parts  and  to 
the  whole.  The  oak  tree  is  beautiful,  and  so  is  the 

129 


The  Principles  of  Interior  Decoration 

birch,  and  each  has  a  fiber  that  is  hard  and  enduring; 
yet  we  think  always  of  the  oak  as  sturdy,  vigorous  and 
indomitable,  and  of  the  birch  as  graceful,  delicate  and 
yielding.  Similarly,  the  body  of  a  perfectly  developed 
athlete  is  always  beautiful ;  yet  no  one  expects  the  pro- 
portions of  the  wrestler  or  the  weight-thrower  to  be 
the  same  as  those  of  the  runner  or  the  vaulter.  Each  is 
beautiful  in  his  own  way,  because  the  parts  of  his  body 
are  adapted  not  only  to  his  stature,  but  also  to  the  re- 
quirements of  the  game  in  which  he  is  trained  to  com- 
pete. We  can  admire  both ;  but  we  could  by  no  possibil- 
ity admire  a  form  in  which  the  great  shoulders  and 
torso  of  the  one  were  joined  to  the  slender  hips  and  legs 
of  the  other.  Inevitably  such  a  form  would  appear 
grotesquely  ugly  in  appearance  and  monstrous  in 
significance. 

The  sense  of  proportion  derived  subconsciously 
from  long  familiarity  with  growing  things,  and  par- 
ticularly with  the  human  body,  conditions  our  artistic 
judgments.  We  expect  to  find  things  together  which 
seem  capable  of  having  grown  together;  that  is,  things 
characterized  by  relationships  analogous  to  the  rela- 
tionships existing  among  growing  things.  Thus  we 
are  best  satisfied  when  the  column  or  pilaster  has  both 
a  capital,  or  head,  and  a  plinth  or  foot;  or  when  the 
ratio  of  valance  to  side  hangings  is  the  same  as  the 
ratio  of  head  to  body.  And  because  the  tree,  fixed  and 
immovable,  has  a  trunk  that  tapers  from  bottom  to  top, 
while  the  animals,  moving  at  will  from  place  to  place, 
have  legs  that  taper  from  top  to  bottom,  it  happens 
that  in  the  design  of  furniture  the  billiard  table,  which 

130 


Proportion 


is  fixed  and  immovable,  may  have  legs  that  taper  from 
bottom  to  top;  that  heavy  sofas,  chairs  and  tables 
which  though  not  fixed  are  not  easily  movable,  may 
have  legs  that  do  not  taper  either  way;  but  that  light 
and  easily  movable  pieces,  to  satisfy  the  subcon- 


FIGURE  23. — These  small  light  chairs  are  identical  except  for 
the  legs.  Note  that  the  example  with  tapering  legs  is  far  more 
satisfying  than  the  one  with  legs  which  do  not  taper. 

scious  judgments  of  the  mind,  must  have  legs  that 
taper  from  top  to  bottom. 

The  attempt  to  formulate  laws  of  proportion  was 
first  made  by  the  Greeks,  through  whose  unique  genius 
the  whole  realm  of  human  thought  and  emotion  found 
expression.  Observing  that  the  human  body — to  them 
the  most  admirable  and  beautiful  object  in  the  world 
— is  characterized  by  fairly  definite  proportions,  or 


The  Principles  of  Interior  Decoration 

relationships  among  its  parts,  they  set  about  it  to 
reduce  the  design  of  buildings  to  a  similar  basis. 
Taking  the  size  of  a  single  architectural  member — 
usually  the  semi-diameter  of  a  column  at  its  base — as 
a  module  or  unit  of  proportion,  they  established  ideal 
ratios  between  this  module  and  every  other  part  of 
the  building.  Having  decided,  in  the  case  of  a  par- 
ticular building,  upon  a  linear  value  for  his  module, 
the  Greek  architect  could  construct  his  whole  building, 
whatever  its  size,  according  to  the  laws  of  propor- 
tion, as  the  anatomist  can  reconstruct  an  entire  body 
from  a  single  bone. 

The  progressive  development  of  Greek  architecture, 
typified  most  clearly  in  the  three  orders,  offers  an 
admirable  field  for  the  study  of  proportion  as  it  con- 
ditions both  the  creation  of  beautiful  forms  and  the 
expression  of  emotional  ideas.  Thus  the  Doric  col- 
umn— to  speak,  most  incompletely,  of  the  column  only 
and  not  of  its  entablature — reveals  the  characteristics 
of  the  race  that  created  it,  a  race  vigorous,  proud- 
spirited and  grave,  of  rigid  morals,  an  austere  and 
solemn  religion,  a  passionate  love  of  warfare  and  of 
the  mimic  combats  of  the  gymnasium.  The  Doric 
column  seems  to  spring  directly  and  powerfully  from 
the  rock  of  its  foundation.  Its  height  is  less  than 
six  diameters.  It  tapers  strikingly  from  base  to  top, 
has  but  slight  entasis,  and  is  channeled  with  flutings 
deeply  cut  and  acute.  Thus  the  order  is  character- 
ized, particularly  in  its  earlier  monuments,  by  a  mas- 
sive solidity,  a  virile  emphasis  upon  constructional 
forms,  and  a  rude  and  solemn  majesty.  It  was  refined 

132 


Proportion 

and  softened  as  it  developed,  but  it  never  lost  its 
essential  character,  which  is  inherent  in  its  proportions. 
In  the  Parthenon,  at  once  the  most  perfect  example  of 
the  style  and  the  most  beautiful  building  of  the  an- 
cient world,  there  is  little  of  softness  or  of  elegance; 
but  throughout  and  above  all  there  is  a  sense  of  im- 
mense strength,  of  immemorial  repose,  and  of  calm 
and  noble  majesty. 

The  Ionic  order,  born  of  another  racial  stock  and  a 
later  age  and  employed  in  the  design  of  temples  con- 
secrated to  divinities  less  austere  and  virile  and  more 
gracious,  yielding  and  lovely,  reveals  the  change  to- 
ward these  qualities  chiefly  through  changes  in  pro- 
portion. The  Ionic  column  has  a  height  of  from 
eight  to  nine  diameters.  It  is  slender,  graceful,  springs 
from  a  base  composed  of  subtle  curves,  is  channeled 
with  flutings  more  slightly  marked  and  separated,  and 
completed  by  a  volute  capital  which  combines  superla- 
tive grace  and  beauty  of  curved  line  with  chaste  and 
delicate  ornament. 

The  Corinthian  column  is  still  more  slender  in  pro- 
portion, having  a  height  of  ten  diameters  or  more.  Its 
flutings  are  separated  by  fillets  terminating  in  curved 
forms,  its  capitals  richly  embellished  with  rows  of 
carved  leaves  and  elaborately  constructed  ornament. 
Thus  for  the  severity  of  the  Doric  and  the  svelte  deli- 
cacy of  the  Ionic  the  Corinthian  order  substitutes  a 
quality  of  richness  and  magnificence. 

The  changes  exemplified  by  the  Greek  orders  are 
characteristic  of  the  development  of  all  the  arts.  Al- 
ways they  emerge  vigorous,  forceful  and  austere;  al- 

133 


The  Principles  of  Interior  Decoration 


ways  they  become  more  delicate,  more  elegant,  more 
graceful;  always  in  the  end  they  achieve  a  style  rich, 
pretentious  and  florid.  The  arts  change  with  changes 


FIGURE  24. — The  Doric,  Ionic,  and  Corinthian  columns. 

in  society,  and  in  the  degree  that  they  are  real  arts — 
that  is,  real  expression,  rather  than  a  foolish  striving 
to  put  new  wine  into  old  bottles — their  works  are 
adapted  in  proportion  as  in  everything  else  to  the  needs 
and  aspirations  of  the  people  who  create  them. 

134 


Proportion 

It  is  manifest,  therefore,  that  excellence  in  propor- 
tion, like  excellence  everywhere  else  in  interior  decora- 
tion, is  first  of  all  a  matter  of  fitness.  We  cannot  use 
a  Doric  column  in  the  architecture  of  a  Louis  XVI 
salon,  nor  can  we  use  an  over-stuffed  sofa  or  a  Renais- 
sance table  in  its  decoration.  That  is,  we  cannot  use 
massive  furniture,  or  large,  heavy  and  strikingly  or- 
namented accessories  in  a  small  room,  or  in  any  room 
which  is  designed  to  be  dainty,  gay  or  elegant.  For 
just  as  the  draft  horse,  beautiful  as  he  strains  at  his 
load,  would  be  absurd  and  ridiculous  on  the  race 
course;  and  as  the  powerful  shoulders  and  barrel-like 
chest  of  the  wrestler  would  be  unfitting  and  hence  un- 
beautiful  in  the  hurdler,  so  the  proportions  of  a  living 
room — using  the  term  as  defined  to  mean  the  adapta- 
tion of  one  part  to  the  others  and  to  the  whole  as 
respects  magnitude,  quality  and  quantity — could  never 
be  precisely  the  same  as  those  of  a  drawing  room,  be- 
cause these  rooms  do  not  have  the  same  purpose  or 
meet  the  same  needs,  and  hence  cannot  have  the  same 
significance  or  express  the  same  idea. 

We  have  seen  that  the  fundamental  principle  of 
decorative  composition  is  to  put  together  things  which, 
either  in  appearance  or  in  significance,  are  more  or 
less  alike.  This  principle  conditions  the  choice  not 
only  of  lines,  colors,  patterns  and  symbols,  but  also 
of  shapes  and  sizes.  All  the  parts  of  a  furnished  room 
must  be  congruous.  That  is,  they  must  appear  to 
the  mind  to  have  grown  together  in  the  process  of 
expressing  a  common  idea.  Thus  the  idea  of  repose, 
for  example,  is  as  we  have  seen  inevitably  associated 

135 


FIGURE  25.— Note  the  change  toward  effects  of  lightness,  deli- 
cacy, elegance,  animation  and  gaiety  with  smaller  size  and  more 
slender  structural  parts. 

136 


Proportion 

with  horizontal  as  opposed  to  vertical  extension.  Ac- 
cordingly the  proportions  of  the  room  to  be  furnished, 
as  well  as  of  its  principal  decorative  units,  must  re- 
veal a  marked  emphasis  upon  length  as  opposed  to 
height  in  the  degree  that  an  effect  of  repose  is  aimed 
at.  Similarly,  because  the  ideas  of  strength,  heaviness, 
immobility,  importance,  permanence  and  dignity  are 
inevitably  associated  with  large  size,  the  room  itself 
and  the  important  decorative  elements  used  in  it  must 
be  more  or  less  large  in  the  degree  that  these  ideas  are 
to  be  expressed,  and  more  or  less  small  in  the  degree 
that  the  ideas  of  delicacy,  lightness,  mobility,  triviality, 
transience  or  grace  are  to  be  expressed. 

It  is  obvious  that  in  setting  about  the  creation  of  a 
room  which  shall  adequately  express  a  given  emo- 
tional idea  we  must  begin  with  the  proportions  of 
the  room  itself,  since  to  select  and  arrange  furniture 
characterized  by  horizontality  in  a  room  which  was 
itself  characterized  by  verticality  could  make  only  for 
confusion  and  ugliness.  But  while  the  decorator  can 
determine  the  size  and  proportions  of  the  units  that 
he  places  in  a  given  room,  it  usually  happens  in  prac- 
tice that  he  has  nothing  to  do  with  the  proportions  of 
the  room  itself,  but  must  take  them  as  he  finds  them. 
When,  as  frequently  happens,  they  do  not  accord  with 
the  motive  of  his  projected  treatment,  he  must  either 
change  his  motive  to  fit  the  actual  proportions  of  the 
room,  or  else  he  must  change  the  apparent  propor- 
tions of  the  room  to  fit  his  motive.  That  is,  he  must, 
through  the  employment  of  a  variety  of  decorative 
artifices,  increase  or  reduce  the  apparent  height  of 

137 


The  Principles  of  Interior  Decoration 

the  ceiling,  make  the  room  seem  longer  or  shorter, 
wider  or  narrower,  larger  or  smaller. 

Let  us  take  as  an  example  the  case  of  a  living  room 
which  it  is  proposed  to  characterize  by  a  marked 
effect  of  tranquillity  and  repose.  Here,  as  always, 
the  decorator  will  seek  to  achieve  his  purpose  through 
a  convergence  of  artistic  effects.  He  will  accordingly, 
other  factors  permitting,  place  a  marked  emphasis 
throughout  (a)  upon  the  unity  as  opposed  to  the  di- 
versity of  the  treatment;  (b)  upon  low  tones  of  color 
as  opposed  to  high  values;  and  (c)  upon  horizontal 
extension  as  opposed  to  vertical  extension.  A  long 
low  room,  with  broad  windows  and  a  wide  fireplace, 
will  of  course  present  no  difficulties.  Where  the  ceil- 
ing is  high,  however,  and  the  openings  narrow,  the 
room  must  be  treated  skillfully  if  the  motive  of  re- 
pose is  to  be  convincingly  expressed.  In  such  a  room 
the  ceiling  must  be  brought  down  in  appearance  by  the 
use  of  a  color  as  dark  as  the  lighting  of  the  room  will 
permit — preferably  only  a  few  tones  lighter  than  the 
wall.  A  rough  surface,  like  coarse  canvas  or  sand- 
finished  plaster,  will  help  to  bring  down  the  ceiling, 
as  will  plaster  relief  or  beaming.  Reducing  the  amount 
of  light  thrown  upon  the  ceiling  through  the  use  of 
direct  light  fixtures  and  of  lamps  properly  shaded  will 
have  the  same  effect.  Where  there  is  no  cornice  the 
ceiling  color  may  be  carried  down  on  the  side  walls 
to  the  height  of  the  windows,  or  to  a  distance  equal 
approximately  to  one-eighth  of  the  total  wall  height, 
and  its  juncture  with  the  wall  color  covered  by  a  nar- 
row molding.  Horizontal  divisions  of  the  wall  by  a 

138 


Proportion 

dado  or  frieze,  or  both,  tend  to  reduce  the  apparent 
height  of  the  ceiling,  provided,  of  course,  that  the 
dominant  lines  of  the  frieze  are  horizontal  or  diagonal 
and  not  vertical.  The  walls  can  also  be  made  to  seem 
lower  through  the  use  of  a  paper  or  other  wall  fabric 
designed  upon  the  circle  or  hexagon  as  a  basis.  The 
horizontal  lines  of  the  windows  must  be  emphasized, 
usually  by  means  of  valances  or  lambrequins,  and  it 
will  frequently  be  found  desirable  to  extend  the  hang- 
ings a  few  inches  beyond  the  casing  on  each  side  in 
order  to  increase  the  apparent  width  of  the  opening 
and  thus  to  emphasize  the  horizontality  of  the  treat- 
ment. The  hangings  should  be  caught  back  in  order 
to  break  their  straight  vertical  lines,  which  would  tend 
to  increase  the  apparent  height  of  the  room.  Couches, 
tables,  bookcases  and  other  important  objects  will  of 
course  be  relatively  long  and  low,  and  vases,  lamp- 
bowls  and  shades  relatively  wide  and  squat;  while  the 
rug,  which  to  be  most  effective  in  a  room  of  this  sort 
ought  to  be  relatively  large  and  to  approximate  rather 
closely  the  proportions  of  the  room,  will  be  low  in 
tone  and  either  broken  in  hue  or  of  thick  pile  or 
coarse  texture  in  order  to  strengthen  the  base  of  the 
decorative  treatment,  and  to  emphasize  the  floor  as 
opposed  to  the  walls.  In  order  to  make  the  large 
pieces  of  furniture  which  are  placed  against  the  walls 
appear  sufficiently  high  to  harmonize  with  the  propor- 
tions of  the  wall  spaces  and  at  the  same  time  to  pre- 
serve and  emphasize  their  horizontality,  it  will  be  neces- 
sary to  select  pieces  which  are  actually  long  as  com- 
pared with  their  height,  and  then  to  place  above  them 

139 


The  Principles  of  Interior  Decoration 

wide  low  pictures,  mirrors,  plastic  friezes,  or  other 
similarly  shaped  elements.  The  mind,  regarding  each 
group  of  this  sort  as  a  unit,  will  be  satisfied  with  the 
total  height  of  the  group  as  related  to  the  wall  height, 
while  at  the  same  time  it  will  be  strongly  conscious  of 
the  dominant  horizontal  lines  of  the  individual  pieces. 
In  this  connection  it  is  to  be  noted  that  because  the  eye 
moves  more  easily  and  quickly  from  side  to  side  than 
up  and  down  there  is  a  constant  tendency  to  over- 
estimate the  length  of  vertical  as  opposed  to  horizontal 
lines — a  fact  that  the  decorator  must  take  into  account 
in  planning  any  treatment  in  which  horizontals  are  to 
be  emphasized. 

When  on  the  other  hand  the  ceiling  is  too  low  to  ac- 
cord well  with  the  other  dimensions  of  the  room,  or 
when  the  ceiling  of  a  room  of  normal  proportions 
is  to  be  raised  in  appearance  in  order  to  decrease  the 
tranquillity  and  increase  the  animation,  buoyancy  and 
gayety  of  the  room,  nearly  all  of  these  processes  must 
be  reversed.  Here  the  ceiling  will  normally  be  made 
very  light  in  tone,  relatively  smooth  in  texture,  and 
well  illuminated  both  by  day  and  by  night.  No  heavy 
cornice  can  be  used,  and  the  ceiling  must  be  kept  free 
from  cross-beams  and  even  from  ornamental  plaster 
in  deep  relief.  Horizontal  divisions  of  the  wall  spaces 
will  as  far  as  possible  be  eliminated,  while  verticals 
will  be  emphasized  in  the  background  surfaces  as  far 
as  practicable,  providing  always  that  they  stop  short 
of  the  point  where  stiffness  begins.  In  practice  this 
means  that  while  vertical  paneling  or  fairly  pronounced 
stripes,  which  tend  to  push  up  the  ceiling  and  pull 

140 


Proportion 

in  the  walls,  can  be  used  happily  in  large  rooms,  the 
treatment  of  small  rooms  must  be  limited  to  relatively 
narrow  and  indistinct  stripes.  As  far  as  is  consistent 
with  their  proper  function,  the  principal  pieces  of 
furniture  will  be  relatively  tall  and  narrow,  and  these 
proportions  should  be  repeated  and  accented  in  the 
selection  of  pictures,  vases,  lamps  and  other  acces- 
sories. The  hangings  will  normally  be  made  to  in- 
crease the  apparent  height  of  the  room  by  falling 
straight  or  almost  straight.  Where  their  texture  is  not 
too  light  or  the  distance  from  floor  to  sill  too  great  they 
should  be  run  to  the  floor,  except  in  the  case  of  mark- 
edly informal  rooms,  and  it  is  very  often  desirable 
still  further  to  emphasize  the  verticality  of  the  hangings 
by  the  use  of  a  valance,  cut  or  pleated  so  that  its  bottom 
line  describes  a  concave  curve,  and  hung  above  the 
casing  at  a  point  just  high  enough  to  cover  with  its 
lower  edge  the  top  of  the  glass. 

When  the  length  of  a  room  is  too  great  to  accord 
well  with  its  width,  means  must  be  adopted  which  tend 
to  restore  the  apparent  proportions  to  what  the  mind 
regards  as  normal  and  therefore  as  pleasing.  The  first 
step  is  to  arrange  the  long  axes  of  the  rugs  and  the 
large  pieces  of  furniture,  as  far  as  possible,  to  run  in 
the  short  axis  of  the  room,  since  it  is  a  principle  of 
design  that  straight  lines  enclosed  within  a  space  in- 
crease the  apparent  dimension  of  the  space  in  the  direc- 
tion of  the  lines.  Two  rugs  of  the  same  size  and  shape 
may  be  used,  or  three  rugs,  one  approximately  square 
in  the  center  and  one  relatively  long  and  narrow  at 
either  end.  Orientals,  or  patterned  rugs  with  many 

141 


The  Principles  of  Interior  Decoration 

border  lines,  are  better  than  plain  rugs  for  this  pur- 
pose. Choice  between  the  use  of  two  or  three  rugs 
will  of  course  depend  largely  upon  whether  the  fur- 
niture is  to  be  arranged  in  two  principal  groups  or  kept 
more  closely  together  in  one.  It  often  happens  that 
a  long  and  narrow  room  has  a  fireplace  at  one  side, 
with  the  hearth  projecting  two  or  three  feet  or  even 
farther  into  the  room.  To  use  a  single  long  and  nar- 
row rug  in  such  a  situation  would  not  only  require 
a  rug  of  unpleasing  shape,  unsymmetrically  placed,  and 
so  different  in  proportions  from  the  floor  as  to  arouse 
a  disagreeable  consciousness  of  lack  of  harmony;  but 
it  would  also  further  accentuate  the  length  of  the  room 
as  opposed  to  its  width.  Where  for  any  reason  the 
use  of  two  or  three  rugs  in  such  a  situation  is  not  con- 
sidered desirable  it  is  in  general  best  to  have  a  large 
plain  or  self-toned  rug  specially  made  to  lie  within 
fifteen  or  twenty  inches  of  the  walls,  and  either  woven 
or  cut  to  fit  snugly  around  the  hearth.  A  single  big 
rug  will  give  repose  and  balance  to  the  room,  and 
if  large  enough  it  will  not  affect  the  apparent  propor- 
tions adversely,  though  it  will  of  course  do  nothing 
to  correct  them.  When  this  treatment  is  adopted  for 
the  floor  it  will  therefore  be  even  more  necessary  to 
emphasize  the  lines  running  across  the  room  by  proper 
choice  and  arrangement  of  the  furniture. 

The  proportions  of  a  long  and  narrow  room  can 
sometimes  be  helped  by  the  use  of  large  architectural 
mirrors,  which  when  placed  on  the  side  walls  appear 
to  double  the  apparent  width  of  the  room;  and  also 
by  placing  the  larger  pieces  of  furniture  farthest  from 

142 


Proportion 


the  principal  entrance — a  method  which,  through  the 
effect  of  linear  perspective  and  the  inveterate  disposi- 
tion of  the  mind  to  regard  large  things  as  near  and 
small  things  as  remote,  causes  the  room  as  seen  from 
the  principal  entrance  to  seem  shorter.  Finally,  the 
walls  may  be  covered  with  a  paper  in  a  light,  neutral, 
and  if  possible  a  cool  color  and  a  shadowy  or  indis- 


P 


FIGURE  26. — The  most  satisfactory  method  of  treating  with  a 
single  large  rug  a  long  and  narrow  room  having  a  deeply  pro- 
jecting hearth  on  one  side. 

tinct  design,  while  a  picture,  cabinet  or  chair  having  a 
sharply  defined  outline  and  fairly  bright  coloring  is 
placed  in  a  conspicuous  position  at  the  remote  end  of 
the  room,  since  the  mind,  through  processes  of  asso- 
ciation, always  conceives  of  things  with  sharp  outlines 
and  bright  coloring  as  being  near  at  hand,  and  those 
with  indistinct  outline  and  neutral  coloring  as  being 
far  away. 
In  order  to  increase  the  apparent  size  of  a  room 

143 


The  Principles  of  Interior  Decoration 

which  seems  to  be  unpleasantly  small  the  decorator 
can  increase  the  amount  and  intensity  of  the  illum- 
ination ;  use  on  the  walls  and  ceiling  light  grayish  tints, 
and  especially  tints  of  the  cool  colors;  keep  the  walls 
plain  or  cover  them  with  an  indistinct  and  relatively 
small  pattern;  use  furniture  relatively  small,  of  light 
and  slender  structural  parts,  and  so  graceful  in  out- 
line as  not  to  appear  bulky,  whatever  its  actual  size; 
reduce  the  diversity  of  the  whole  decorative  treatment 
by  limiting  the  colors  to  tones  of  but  two  or  three  hues ; 
keep  the  furniture  in  the  same  or  closely  related  styles ; 
and  eliminate  all  superfluous  detail  and  all  sharp  con- 
trast of  hue  and  tone. 

To  diminish  the  apparent  size  of  a  room  which 
seems  too  large  these  processes  will  be  reversed.  Darker 
and  less  neutral  tones  of  the  warm  colors  can  be  used 
on  the  floors  and  walls;  larger  and  more  pronounced 
pattern  on  the  background  surfaces;  larger  and  more 
bulky  furniture  and  accessories;  and,  provided  al- 
ways that  its  essential  unity  be  not  imperiled,  the  va- 
riety of  the  treatment  can  be  increased  in  hue,  tone, 
line  and  form. 

The  important  decorative  elements  of  the  room  must 
be  chosen  to  accord  with  the  proportions  of  the  room. 
That  is,  they  must  seem  to  the  mind  to  be  like  the 
room,  either  in  physical  appearance  or  in  emotional 
significance.  For  this  reason  as  a  general  rule  of 
practice  the  scale  of  all  forms — rugs,  furniture,  pic- 
tures, lamps,  vases,  textile  patterns,  and  so  forth — 
will  be  increased  directly  with  the  size  of  the  room. 
Thus  a  large  room  will  normally  look  better  with  a 

144 


Proportion 

large  rug  than  with  several  small  rugs  because  of  like 
significance,  since  the  large  room  necessarily  affects  the 
mind  with  a  sense  of  heaviness,  immobility  and  perma- 
nence, while  small  rugs  necessarily  affect  it  with  a 
sense  of  lightness,  mobility  and  transience.  Moreover, 
the  mind  is  better  pleased  with  the  large  rug  because  of 
its  easily  perceptible  physical  resemblance  to  the  floor; 
and  this  sense  of  pleasure  increases,  as  in  the  light  of 
our  fundamental  principle  of  putting  like  with  like 
we  would  expect,  directly  with  the  degree  of  likeness 
in  size  and  in  shape,  up  to  the  point  where  these  like- 
nesses are  easily  but  not  too  easily  recognizable.  For 
example,  in  a  room  fifteen  by  twenty  feet,  whose  width 
is  to  its  length  as  three  is  to  four,  the  mind  would  de- 
mand an  oblong  rug,  and  its  pleasure  in  such  a  rug, 
other  things  being  equal,  would  increase  as  the  pro- 
portions of  the  rug  approached  the  ratio  of  three  to 
four.  It  would  not,  however,  accept  a  small  rug  of 
these  proportions,  as  6'  x  8',  j'6"  x  10',  or  even 
9'  x  12',  because  the  edges  of  such  a  rug  would  lie  so 
far  from  the  edges  of  the  room  that  the  likeness  in 
proportion  could  be  perceived  only  as  the  result  of 
mental  effort,  which  is  always  inimical  to  esthetic 
pleasure.  On  the  other  hand,  a  rug  H'3"  x  19'  would 
be  too  nearly  identical  with  the  floor  to  interest  the 
mind,  which  would  prefer  a  resemblance  easily  recog- 
nizable but  of  some  subtlety,  such  as  would  be  af- 
forded, let  us  say,  by  a  rug  n'3"  x  15'. 

It  is  most  important  to  note  that  where  small  rugs 
are  used,  the  floor  itself,  and  not  the  rugs,  serves  as 
the  base  of  the  decorative  treatment,  and  the  small  rugs 

145 


The  Principles  of  Interior  Decoration 

serve  merely  as  ornament  on  that  base.  In  this  situ- 
ation the  floor  must  be  toned  to  a  depth  which  seems 
to  the  mind  heavy  enough  to  support  the  room,  while 
the  small  rugs  must,  like  all  good  ornament,  be  related 
to  the  structure  by  definite  and  easily  perceptible  rela- 
tionships. Not  only  must  their  coloring  and  design 
harmonize  with  the  other  things  in  the  room;  their 
structural  lines  must  conform  to  the  structural  lines 
of  the  room  itself.  That  is,  they  must  be  so  placed 
that  their  primary  axis  parallels  either  the  primary 
or  secondary  axis  of  the  room.  To  place  a  rug 
obliquely  on  a  floor  is  in  effect  the  same  thing  as  to 
hang  a  picture  or  to  carve  the  ornament  of  a  chair 
back  obliquely. 

The  same  thing  is  true  of  the  arrangement  of  fur- 
niture, in  direct  proportion  to  the  size,  bulk  and  struc- 
tural emphasis  of  the  individual  pieces.  While  the 
subject  will  be  discussed  in  the  chapter  on  balance,  it 
may  be  noted  here  that  almost  invariably  the  important 
units  in  a  room — piano,  reading  table,  davenport,  bed, 
dresser,  and  so  forth — must  be  made  to  parallel  one  or 
the  other  of  the  walls,  no  matter  how  far  away  from 
that  wall  they  may  actually  stand.  The  idea  that  a 
room  can  be  freed  from  an  effect  of  stiffness  or  over- 
formality  and  invested  with  a  quality  of  lightness  and 
personal  charm  by  placing  heavy  pieces  of  furniture 
askew  in  it  is  as  erroneous  as  it  is  widespread. 

In  the  choice  of  furniture,  lamps  and  pictures  the 
decorator  will  be  guided  by  the  general  requirement 
for  congruity  in  scale.  Of  course  this  is  not  to  be 
interpreted  as  meaning  that  every  piece  of  furniture 

146 


Proportion 

and  every  textile  pattern  must  be  big  in  a  big  room,  or 
small  in  a  small  room;  it  means  simply  that  the  prin- 
cipal pieces,  the  really  significant  objects  that  together 
constitute  its  organic  structure,  must  be  of  a  shape 
and  bulk  that  is  consonant  with  the  shape  and  size  as 


FIGURE  27. — This  cut  is  redrawn  from  a  so-called  model  living 
room  for  a  flat.  Four  among  the  five  pieces  of  furniture  are 
placed  obliquely.  Note  also  the  stiffness  and  total  lack  of  inter- 
est due  to  the  use  of  three  large  matched  pieces  in  a  small  room. 

well  as  with  the  purpose  of  the  room,  as  the  thigh 
or  torso  of  the  athlete  must  be  proportioned  not  only 
to  his  height,  but  also  to  the  requirements  of  the  game 
in  which  he  is  trained  to  compete.  This  analogy  makes 
it  easy  to  understand  that  even  in  the  case  of  two  rooms 
of  the  same  floor  plan  a  difference  in  the  character  of 

147 


The  Principles  of  Interior  Decoration 

the  rooms  will  necessitate  differences  in  the  propor- 
tions of  many  of  the  decorative  units  and  in  their  re- 
lation to  the  whole,  since  it  is  only  through  the  pro- 
portions of  its  parts  that  the  true  character  of  any 
whole  can  be  constituted  and  revealed.  Thus  in  the 
degree  that  a  drawing  room  is  to  express  the  ideas  of 
animation  and  gayety,  as  opposed  to  those  of  tran- 
quillity and  sobriety,  it  must  be  filled  with  relatively 
small  and  light  pieces  of  furniture  and  decorative  ob- 
jects, even  when  the  room  itself  is  large.  In  this 
situation  the  decorator  must  depend  for  the  effect  of 
size  and  bulk  necessary  to  accord  harmoniously  with 
the  size  of  the  room  upon  careful  grouping.  Two 
light  chairs  and  a  small  table,  for  example,  grouped 
for  conversation  or  tea,  affect  the  mind  as  one  rather 
than  as  three  units,  and  therefore  satisfy  the  esthetic 
requirements  of  consonance,  while  the  small  size  of  the 
individual  pieces  accords  with  the  function  and  decora- 
tive motive  of  the  room.  The  mere  fact  of  grouping 
will  satisfy  the  esthetic  requirements;  the  constitution, 
placement  and  arrangement  of  the  various  groups  must 
of  course  be  determined  in  practice  by  such  considera- 
tions of  suitability  as  the  purpose  of  the  room,  the  lo- 
cation of  fireplace,  windows,  doors  and  lighting  out- 
lets, and  the  tastes  of  the  people  who  use  the  room. 

It  is  to  be  remembered  also  that  actual  size  and 
apparent  bulkiness  are  by  no  means  the  same  thing. 
Slender  structural  parts  and  graceful  lines  reduce 
astonishingly  the  apparent  size  of  a  piece  of  furniture. 
A  finely  designed  sofa  in  one  of  the  eighteenth  century 

148 


Proportion 

English  or  French  styles  appears  to  be  a  third  smaller 
than  a  present-day  over-stuffed  sofa  of  the  same  actual 
dimensions ;  and  the  same  differences  in  mere  bulkiness 
and  in  apparent  as  distinguished  from  actual  dimen- 
sions mark  the  French  fauteuil  and  the  American  tub 
chair,  Hepplewhite  and  Craftsman  tables,  Pompeiian 
and  Renaissance  floor  lamps,  and  so  on  throughout  the 
whole  range  of  furniture.  Thus  the  decorator  may 
choose  furniture  consonant  not  only  with  the  size  but 
also  with  the  character  of  any  room,  making  the 
pieces  increasingly  less  bulky  and  more  light  and  grace- 
ful as  the  motive  of  the  room  becomes  increasingly 
more  animated  and .  gay,  and  emphasizing  the  effect 
thus  produced  by  the  use  of  textures  of  closer  weave, 
greater  power  of  reflecting  light  and  lighter  and  more 
delicate  coloring. 

This  point  is  worthy  of  further  emphasis.  For  rea- 
sons which  it  would  be  tedious  to  attempt  to  analyze 
here  there  is  a  very  widespread  idea  that  mere  bulk  is 
in  some  way  essential  to  comfort  in  furniture.  Thus 
many  women  feel  that  a  living  room,  to  be  comfort- 
ably furnished,  must,  regardless  of  its  size,  have  a  big 
davenport  and  two  or  more  big  chairs.  When  these 
pieces,  together,  usually,  with  a  reading  table  and  a 
piano,  have  been  installed  in  a  small  room  there  is  very 
little  space  for  anything  else,  and  to  the  mind  there 
seems  to  be  none  at  all.  Living  in  such  a  room  is  like 
living  in  a  crowd.  The  room  is  hopelessly  out  of 
scale,  and  its  bad  proportions  are  aggravated  by  the 
physical  necessity  of  keeping  such  other  pieces  as  are 

149 


The  Principles  of  Interior  Decoration 


FIGURE  28. — This  group  is  well  constituted,  but  the  individual 
units  are  so  large  as  to  give  to  the  narrow  hall  an  unpleasant 
effect  of  over-crowding — an  effect  intensified  by  the  use  of  small, 
light  rugs. 

essential  to  the  uses  of  the  room  as  much  smaller  than 
they  ought  to  be  as  the  big  pieces  are  larger  than  they 
ought  to  be. 

The  same  effect  of  incongruous  proportion  is  often 

150 


Proportion 

seen  in  the  bedroom,  where  for  the  sake  of  more 
drawer  space  or  larger  mirrors,  or  by  reason  of  a  singu- 
larly inept  preference  for  mere  mass,  furniture  is 
chosen  of  a  size  that  dwarfs  the  room;  in  the  dining 
room,  where  a  table  so  large  as  to  destroy  the  organic 
harmony  of  the  treatment  is  chosen  because  the  doily 
service  will  look  well  when  there  are  eight  for  luncheon ; 
and  especially  in  the  den.  We  have  all  seen  this  tiny 
den,  so  popular  a  few  years  ago,  with  its  one  big 
Turkish  chair  and  its  big  reading  table,  around  which 
one  must  thread  his  way  gingerly  in  order  to  avoid 
knocking  over  the  smoking  table,  the  magazine  rack, 
and  the  one  small  remaining  chair.  Of  course  no  one 
with  the  slightest  feeling  for  form  or  fitness  could  be 
comfortable  in  such  a  room.  As  a  matter  of  fact  no 
one  ever  tried  to  be;  for  such  rooms  were  no  sooner 
furnished  than  they  were  deserted,  to  remain  of  no 
more  value  in  the  economy  of  the  household  than  an 
unused  closet. 

While  we  are  here  concerned  with  the  individual 
decorative  units  only  as  they  help  to  form  an  organic 
whole,  it  must  be  noted  that  the  same  general  prin- 
ciples of  proportion  apply  to  their  design.  The  legs  of 
a  table,  for  example,  or  of  a  chair  or  sofa,  must  be  of 
a  size  that  seems  to  the  mind  such  as  would  naturally 
have  grown  on  a  piece  of  its  dimensions  and  weight. 
Undoubtedly  short  straight  legs  two  inches  in  diameter 
would  be  sufficient  to  support  the  largest  davenport; 
yet  such  legs  would  appear  grotesquely  inadequate 
and  ugly.  When  we  see  such  a  piece  supported  by 
bun  legs  four  or  five  inches  in  diameter,  however,  we 


The  Principles  of  Interior  Decoration 

are  satisfied.  A  small  light-toned  picture  in  a  very 
heavy  frame  is  as  unsatisfactory  as  a  large  dark-toned 
picture  in  a  very  light  frame.  A  nine  by  twelve  rug 
with  a  border  twenty-seven  inches  wide  lacks  beauty 
of  proportion,  as  does  a  rug  of  the  same  size  with  a 
nine-inch  border. 

Figure  30,  taken,  with  its  accompanying  comment, 
from  Mayeux's  "La  composition  decorative,"  page  153, 
perfectly  illustrates  the  principle  involved.  The  panel 


FIGURE  29. — The  legs  of  this  sofa  are  in  fact  quite  strong 
enough  to  support  its  weight;  yet  they  appear  to  the  mind  to  be 
inadequate  and  even  grotesque. 

A,  one  of  the  fanciful  decorative  subjects  much  em- 
ployed during  the  Renaissance  and  later,  shows  a  figure 
resting  upon  a  bracket  supported  by  two  foliated  con- 
soles. These  consoles  also  support  two  little  columns 
which  serve  to  hold  up  the  canopy.  Although  the 
design  is  a  work  of  pure  fancy,  and  the  actual  strength 
of  the  scaffolding  is  of  no  importance,  nevertheless  the 
mind  is  perturbed  and  dissatisfied  if  any  element  of  the 
composition  appears  to  be  too  light  or  too  heavy,  too 
narrow  or  too  wide,  for  the  whole,  as  in  B. 

152 


Proportion 


Thus  if  the  bracket  is  too  narrow  (a)  the  figure  ap- 
pears uncomfortable  and  constrained  in  its  attitude; 
while  if  it  is  too  wide  the  figure  appears  (b)  to  have 
too  much  room  and  thus  to  lose  its  fixed  place  in  the 


FIGURE  30. 


B 


composition.  The  consoles,  designed  too  thin  (c) 
in  connection  with  columns  too  thick,  seem  to  bend 
under  the  burden  they  bear;  inversely,  at  (d)  they 
appear  clumsy  and  of  an  exaggerated  weight  and 
strength  in  connection  with  the  load  they  bear.  Simi- 
larly, the  relationships  between  the  columns  and  the 

IS3 


The  Principles  of  Interior  Decoration 

canopy  must  be  congruous;  so  that  the  latter  will  be 
neither  too  heavy  (e)  nor  too  light  and  narrow  (f). 

Not  only  the  size  but  also  the  structural  emphasis 
of  all  important  forms  is  in  general  increased  directly 
with  the  scale  of  the  room.  The  contrast  in  tone  be- 
tween trim  and  the  wall  is  slightly  intensified;  textile 
patterns  are  made  slightly  bolder;  moldings,  picture 
frames  and  table  tops  are  given  more  projection;  and 
the  weight-bearing  and  strength-revealing  lines  of  the 
furniture  are  accentuated.  Moreover,  since  the  mind 
associates  dark  colors  with  the  ideas  of  bulk,  heaviness 
and  strength,  the  tonality  of  the  room  is  progressively 
lowered. 

It  is  manifest  that  no  formulas  can  be  deduced  suf- 
ficiently specific  to  be  of  value  in  this  matter;  nor  are 
any  necessary.  Careful  and  continued  observation 
and  analysis  of  good  and  bad  examples  of  furniture, 
rugs,  picture  frames,  lamps  and  other  objects,  and 
of  their  employment  in  particular  rooms,  together 
with  the  study  of  buildings  and  of  architectural  draw- 
ings and  photographs  and  of  the  human  body  in  paint- 
ing and  sculpture,  will  be  enough  to  train  the  eye  to 
perceive  niceties  of  proportion.  For  the  decorator 
there  is  no  escape  from  these  slow  processes  of  growth. 
Here,  as  elsewhere  in  the  art,  there  is  no  substitute  for 
a  sure  taste. 

Up  to  this  point  we  have  been  concerned  with  pro- 
portion as  expressive  of  significance  and  functional 
fitness,  and  with  the  adaptation  of  the  various  mem- 
bers of  a  decorative  treatment  to  each  other  and  to 
the  whole.  But  the  question  very  naturally  suggests 

154 


Proportion 

itself  as  to  whether  there  may  not  be  such  a  thing 
as  intrinsically  pleasing  proportions,  apart  from  any 
considerations  of  fitness  or  significance.  May  there 
not  be  some  ideal  ratio  which  we  can  accept  as  a  norm 
by  which  to  judge  excellence  or  the  lack  of  it  in 
decorative  composition  ? 

This  question  was  answered  affirmatively  by  the  ar- 
tists of  the  Renaissance  as  the  result  of  their  study  of 
proportion  in  classic  art,  and  their  conclusions  were 
elaborated  and  set  forth  in  the  early  part  of  the  last 
century  by  Xeising  in  a  treatise  in  which  he  urged  as 
the  ideal  proportion  what  he  called  the  Golden  Sec- 
tion, or  a  division  of  any  whole  into  two  parts  in  such 
a  way  that  the  whole  is  to  the  larger  part  as  the 
larger  is  to  the  smaller.  Thus  in  the  line  ac,  in 
Figure  31,  ac  :  ab  : :  ab  :  be,  while  in  the  rectangle  the 
sum  of  the  two  diameters  is  to  the  longer  diameter  as 
the  longer  is  to  the  shorter.  Worked  out  arithmeti- 
cally, this  ratio  is  about  that  of  five  to  three. 

The  golden  section  satisfies  the  requirements  of  the 
mind,  and  may  be  accepted  as  an  approximate  ideal. 
The  basic  fact  with  reference  to  excellence  in  propor- 
tion is  that  it  is  based  upon  the  laws  of  repetition 
and  principality.  For  example,  the  length  and  breadth 
of  a  rectangle,  in  order  to  satisfy  the  esthetic  require- 
ments of  the  mind,  must  be  nearly  enough  alike  so  that 
their  likeness  is  easily  apparent;  yet  one  dimension 
must  be  enough  greater  than  the  other  to  satisfy 
the  need  for  a  dominant  element.  Of  the  three  rec- 
tangles shown  in  Figure  32,  A,  being  square,  satisfies 
the  demand  for  likeness  but  not  for  principality ;  while 

155 


The  Principles  of  Interior  Decoration 


B  satisfies  the  demand  for  principality  but  not  that 
for  repetition.  C  alone  satisfies  both  demands,  and 
therefore  it  is  alone  accepted  by  the  mind  as  of  pleas- 


h 
a. 


h. 
:  db-  •  <zl>:  be 


a. 


f 


f- cc?: 

FIGURE  31. — The  proportions  of  the  Golden  Section. 

ing  proportions.  The  ratio  thus  applied  to  the  divi- 
sion of  lines  and  the  dimensions  of  rectangles  was 
held  by  Xeising  to  be  applicable  to  the  dimensions  of 
ellipses,  rhombs  and  other  geometrical  forms,  and  in 
the  arts  of  design  to  the  proportions  of  floor  and  wall 

156 


Proportion 


spaces,  windows,   doors,   tables,   rugs,   books,   vases, 
frames,  chairs  and  chairbacks,  and  so  on. 

This  ratio  is  pleasing  because,  as  Raymond  has 
pointed  out,  the  mind  judges  of  proportion  by  uncon- 
scious comparison  of  like  spatial  units,  as  it  judges  of 


FIGURE  32. 

rhythm  in  music  and  poetry  by  comparison  of  like 
accents.  As  long  as  these  units  are  expressible  in  small 
ratios,  like  I  :i  or  1:2,  they  are  easily  perceptible.  As 
the  number  of  units  is  increased  the  ratio  becomes 
more  difficult  to  perceive  and  the  proportion  more 
subtle,  up  to  the  point  where  the  mind  is  unable  to 
judge  the  ratio.  Thus  the  ratio  2 :3  is  more  subtle 
and  more  interesting  than  the  ratio  I  :i,  yet  it  is  easily, 

157 


The  Principles  of  Interior  Decoration 

sensed  by  the  mind.  On  the  other  hand,  ratios  like 
4:7,  7:12,  or  9:14  involve  a  number  of  divisions  be- 
yond the  power  of  the  mind  to  grasp.  Primitive  art  is 
very  simple  and  involves  endless  repetition  of  the 
ratio  i  :i,  but  as  man's  intelligence  increases  and  his 
esthetic  perceptions  are  developed  his  taste  demands 
more  subtle  relationships.  The  proportion  of  3  15  sat- 
isfies the  most  highly  trained  eye  and  mind,  as  it  satis- 
fied the  Greeks,  because  it  is  the  most  subtle  that  the 
mind  can  grasp  with  the  ease  necessary  to  esthetic 
enjoyment. 

Long  before  the  time  of  Xeising  Vitruvius  stated 
that  the  length  of  a  room  should  be  to  its  breadth  as 
5  13,  or  as  3  :2 ;  or,  in  the  case  of  very  large  apartments, 
as  2:1.  The  decorator  will  find  in  practice  that  when 
a  room  varies  widely  from  this  ideal  its  apparent  pro- 
portions must  be  altered  through  some  of  the  devices 
noted  above  before  the  room  can  be  made  to  seem 
satisfactory  to  a  critical  taste;  and  that,  within  the 
limits  necessarily  imposed  by  their  function  and  par- 
ticular situation,  the  various  forms  and  surfaces  in 
his  treatment  will  be  found  to  be  increasingly  pleasing 
to  the  mind  as  they  approach  the  proportions  of  the 
golden  section. 

Our  instinctive  insistence  upon  the  presence  of  a 
dominant  element  in  every  composition  conditions  the 
proportions  of  all  horizontal  divisions  of  the  wall 
spaces.  When  a  wall  is  divided  into  two  parts  only, 
one  part  must  be  perceptibly  wider  than  the  other,  and 
the  more  nearly  these  divisions  approximate  the  ratio 
of  five  to  three,  other  things  being  equal,  the  more 

158 


Proportion 

pleasing  they  will  be.  Figure  33  shows  a  dining  room 
wall  in  which  this  ratio  appears  in  the  proportions  of 
the  wall  itself,  in  the  division  into  paneling  and  frieze, 
and  in  the  opening.  This,  of  course,  is  not  a  law,  but 
only  a  safe  guide.  In  practice  the  horizontal  division 
of  a  given  wall  space  may  vary  widely  from  these 
proportions  and  still  be  entirely  satisfactory,  provided 
only  that  the  mind  is  left  in  no  doubt  as  to  the  presence 


FIGURE  33. 

of  a  dominant  element.  The  ratio  might  also  require 
to  be  modified  to  make  allowance  for  the  peculiar  effect 
of  the  design  of  paneling  or  frieze.  Thus  vertical 
panels  without  any  horizontal  rails  would  increase  the 
apparent  height  of  the  lower  member,  while  a  frieze 
designed  upon  marked  horizontal  lines  or  wide  lateral 
curves  would  apparently  diminish  that  of  the  upper 
member. 

When,  in  the  case  of  large  and  important  rooms, 

159 


The  Principles  of  Interior  Decoration 

there  are  three  or  more  horizontal  divisions,  one  must 
perceptibly  exceed  the  total  of  all  the  others.  The 
elevation  shown  in  Figure  34,  based  upon  the  Tuscan 
order,  has  a  height  of  n'6",  with  a  dado  of  2'3", 
a  sidewall  of  7'2",  a  frieze  of  i'6",  and  a  7"  cornice. 
In  the  decoration  of  a  given  room  these  proportions 
will  naturally  be  so  adjusted  as  best  to  accord  with 

the  motive  of  the 
room,  the  character 
and  projection  of 
its  trim,  and  the  de- 
sign and  coloring 
of  the  frieze;  but 
as  a  rough  rule  of 
practice  we  may, 
taking  one-nine- 
teenth of  the  ceiling 
height  as  a  module, 
give  the  dado  a 


FIGURE  34.  height  of  four  mo- 

dules, the  sidewall  twelve  or  slightly  less,  the  frieze 
two  or  slightly  more,  and  the  cornice  one  or  slightly 
less. 

Where  there  are  no  horizontal  divisions  other  than 
the  regular  low  baseboard  and  a  cornice  or  picture 
molding  at  the  ceiling  the  difference  between  the  side- 
wall  and  the  other  two  members  is  so  great  that  the 
mind  makes  no  attempt  to  compare  them,  but  instead 
compares  the  total  height  of  the  room  with  the  win- 
dows, which  thus  become  the  element  to  be  given  prin- 
cipality, and  which  ought  accordingly  to  be  longer 

160 


Proportion 

than  the  total  of  the  space  above  the  windows  plus 
the  space  below.  Here  the  mind  is  in  general  best 
satisfied  when  the  space  below  the  window  is  about 
one-third  of  the  height  of  the  window  itself,  while  the 
space  above  is  about  one-fourth  of  the  length  of  the 
window.  Thus  a  room  with  a  ceiling  nine  feet  and 
six  inches  high  would  look  well  with  windows  six  feet 
long,  having  two  feet  from  sill  to  floor,  and  one  foot 
six  inches  from  top  of  window  to  ceiling.  It  must, 
of  course,  be  noted  that  these  vague  generalizations  are 
not  intended  to  apply  to  the  design  of  great  apartments, 
where  the  openings  will  start  from  the  floor  and  be 
carried  by  means  of  over-door  and  over-window  treat- 
ments to  the  cornice.  They  apply  to  rooms  of  ordinary 
size  and  proportions  only,  and  then  merely  as  sugges- 
tions which  are  reasonably  sure  to  lead  to  satisfactory 
results.  Nothing  could  be  more  false  than  the  assump- 
tion that  relations  of  proportion  can  be  reduced  to  un- 
alterable formulas. 

The  beauty  of  proportion  which  is  the  principal  ele- 
ment of  that  organic  harmony  characteristic  of  a  well- 
furnished  room  depends  first  of  all  upon  a  proper  em- 
phasis of  structure.  In  the  perfect  room  we  are  al- 
ways conscious  of  being  indoors,  not  out.  At  the  back 
of  the  mind  lies  always  the  intimate  sense  of  shelter, 
of  protection,  of  freedom  to  live  our  lives  unhindered 
by  nature  or  by  man.  This  implies  a  sense  of  strong 
walls,  of  adequate  coverings  for  the  openings,  above 
all  of  a  firm  roof  over  our  heads.  No  room  can  be 
a  perfect  room  unless  it  makes  us  subtly  aware  of  the 
presence  of  these  primary  requirements  of  shelter. 

161 


The  Principles  of  Interior  Decoration 

The  trim  or  woodwork  of  a  room  outlines  its  struc- 
ture and  helps  to  steady  and  support  its  decorative 
treatment.  It  is  clear  that  the  emphasis  to  be  placed 
upon  this  structural  outline  will  vary  according  to 
the  character  of  the  room  and  the  way  in  which  it  is 
to  be  furnished,  since  anything  large,  heavy,  elaborate 
or  complex  will  require  a  stronger  structural  support 
than  will  anything  small  or  light  or  simple.  The 
effect  of  strength  and  importance  of  the  woodwork  will 
vary  directly  with  the  factors  of  area,  projection, 
sharpness  of  outline,  marked  texture,  and  contrast  with 
the  wall  areas. 

It  is  a  weakness  of  present-day  decoration  that  it 
so  largely  fails  to  recognize  the  basic  importance  of 
structure,  and  so  largely  concerns  itself  with  what 
is  applied  and  incidental,  as  the  builders  of  forty  years 
ago  so  largely  ignored  proportion  and  structural  em- 
phasis and  concerned  themselves  with  fussy  bays,  dor- 
mers, brackets,  grills,  shaped  shingles  and  jig-saw  ap- 
plique, which  to  the  surer  taste  of  to-day  seem  in  the 
last  degree  tawdry,  trivial  and  ugly.  This  failure 
to  recognize  the  basic  importance  of  structure  is  pe- 
culiarly characteristic  of  our  treatment  of  the  ceiling. 

The  ceiling  is  the  roof  of  the  room,  the  sheltering 
and  protecting  element.  In  all  the  great  decorative 
periods  it  was  given  a  relatively  elaborate  treatment. 
The  classic  methods  of  ceiling  decoration,  besides  be- 
ing quite  beyond  the  means  of  the  average  home  owner, 
are  for  the  most  part  rendered  unfitting  by  the  very 
low  ceilings  which,  in  the  interests  both  of  economy 
and  of  repose,  characterize  most  modern  homes.  Ceil- 

162 


Proportion 

ings  treated  in  plaster  relief  or  with  beaming  are  widely 
used  in  rooms  having  a  ceiling  height  of  ten  feet  or 
more,  and  with  excellent  effect  when  they  are  in  scale 
with  the  room  and  well  executed ;  but  the  great  number 
of  ceilings  in  ordinary  homes  are  and  will  continue  to 
be  of  plain  plaster,  tinted  or  covered  with  canvas  and 
painted.  In  their  treatment  the  decorator  is  concerned 
with  three  factors:  texture,  already  discussed;  tone; 
and  support. 

The  ceiling  must  seem  to  the  mind  to  have  some 
body  and  weight,  since  in  the  modern  house  it  is  to 
be  regarded  not  as  the  sky  above  the  room  but  rather 
as  its  roof.  The  very  common  practice  of  making  the 
ceiling  perfectly  smooth  and  of  doing  it  in  white  or 
pale  cream  regardless  alike  of  its  actual  height  and  of 
the  coloring  and  tone  of  the  walls  often  results  not 
only  in  sharp  tone  contrasts  by  which  the  mind  is 
more  or  less  consciously  perturbed,  but  also  in  the  loss 
of  the  sense  of  sheltered  intimacy.  Making  the  ceiling 
slightly  rougher — for  example,  by  covering  it  with 
cloth  and  painting  it  in  oil  and  stippling — and  keeping 
it  a  little  lower  in  tone,  according  to  a  formula  to  be 
stated  in  the  chapter  on  light  and  shade,  makes  it 
seem  heavier  and  therefore  more  satisfactory  to  the 
mind,  while  at  the  same  time  it  pi  events  an  inartistic 
contact  with  the  walls. 

Whatever  its  tone,  the  ceiling  must  seem  to  be  ade- 
quately supported.  This  requires  the  use  of  a  support- 
ing molding  of  some  kind  at  the  point  where  the  ceiling 
appears  to  rest  on  the  sidewall.  The  position,  depth, 
projection  and  ornamental  character  of  this  member 

163 


The  Principles  of  Interior  Decoration 


will  naturally  depend  upon  the  proportions  of  the 
room  and  upon  its  function  and  decorative  motive,  and 
it  ought  in  every  case  to  be  determined  by  a  compe- 
tent architectural  designer.  In  any  case  the  cornice 
molding  must  appear  in  its  turn  to  be  adequately  sup- 


ff 


ID 


FIGURE  35. — Note  the  effect  of  structural  adequacy  produced 
by  the  addition  of  the  cornice  (B).  The  effect  would  be  still 
more  satisfactory  as  the  result  of  an  increase  in  the  height  and 
projection  of  the  base-board. 

ported.  Nothing  is  more  disturbing,  and  few  things 
more  commonly  experienced,  than  the  consciousness  of 
a  cornice  which  seems  heavy  enough  amply  to  support 
the  ceiling,  but  is  itself  quite  unsupported  and  appar- 
ently suspended  in  the  air. 

Where  the  walls  are  paneled  the  ceiling  support  is 
164 


Proportion 


of  course  adequate,  as  it  is  where  over-mantel  and  over- 
doors  are  extended  to  the  cornice,  following  the  gen- 
eral practice  in  rooms  of  importance.  In  ordinary 
rooms  this  apparent  support  will  be  afforded  either  by 
the  walls  or  by  the  openings,  or  by  both.  The  mind 


FIGURE  36. — A  heavy  cornice  causes  plain  walls  to  appear  weak 
and  inadequate.  Note  also  the  effect  of  weakness  due  to  the 
very  low  base-board,  and  the  unpleasant  effect  of  dividing  the 
wall  improperly  in  the  placement  of  windows. 

unconsciously  regards  the  wall  of  a  room  as  an 
order,  or  combination  of  architectural  factors  neces- 
sary to  hold  up  the  solids  over  an  opening,  and 
it  demands  either  that  the  wall  itself  seem  to 
possess  the  strength  essential  to  this  office  or  that  it 
be  performed  by  the  openings.  In  the  latter  case 

165 


The  Principles  of  Interior  Decoration 

the  windows  set  off  by  their  draperies  seem  to  act  as 
columns  which  support  the  cornice  and  ceiling.  Here 
the  impression  of  strength  conveyed  by  the  pillars  of 
classic  architecture  is  expressed  by  the  draperies,  which 
must,  of  course,  fall  to  the  floor;  and  the  deeper  the 
folds  of  the  fabric  the  more  marked  will  be  the  shadows 
they  cast  and  the  greater  the  impression  of  strength. 

Where  the  walls  are  depended  upon  for  apparent 
support  for  the  cornice  and  ceiling  they  must  be 
strengthened  by  relatively  dark  color  or  marked  tex- 
ture or  pattern,  or  by  two  or  three  of  these  factors 
in  combination.  In  this  case  the  hangings  do  not  re- 
quire to  be  hung  to  the  floor.  They  may,  if  desired, 
be  made  of  light  textures  and  stopped  at  the  bottom  of 
the  apron;  but  they  must  be  definitely  related  either 
to  the  walls  or  to  the  windows.  The  common  practice 
of  stopping  them  arbitrarily  at  a  point  nine  or  twelve 
or  fifteen  inches  below  the  sill  ignores  their  structural 
character  and  leaves  the  mind  perturbed  and  uncon- 
vinced. 

The  present  vogue  of  plain  walls  has  much  to  recom- 
mend it;  yet  it  often  results  in  bad  decoration  because, 
like  every  other  vogue,  it  often  disregards  considera- 
tions of  fitness.  The  predominance  of  plain  as  opposed 
to  ornamented  surfaces  results  naturally  in  effects  that 
are  fine  and  delicate,  but  that  easily  become  thin  and 
poor  when  overemphasized;  while  the  predominance 
of  ornamented  as  opposed  to  plain  surfaces  makes  for 
a  breadth  and  richness  of  effect  that  easily  develops 
when  overemphasized  into  complexity  and  confusion. 
It  is  therefore  clear  that  plain  walls,  set  off  by  hang- 

166 


Proportion 

ings,  furniture  and  objects  of  art,  accord  excellently 
with  relatively  small  rooms  and  relatively  light  color- 
ing ;  but  that  when  the  rooms  are  large,  the  colors  low, 
and  the  requirements  of  structural  emphasis  pro- 
nounced, plain  walls  lack  the  strength  to  support  the 
cornice  and  ceiling  unless  they  are  either  paneled  or 
invested  with  a  marked  effect  of  rough  or  open  tex- 
ture, whether  through  the  use  of  plaster,  paper  or 
cloth.  In  every  case  where  there  is  any  room  for 
doubt  as  to  its  structural  adequacy  a  texture  paper 
should  be  tried  in  position  before  it  is  chosen,  since 
it  will  often  be  found  that  nothing  less  than  pattern, 
of  a  size  and  emphasis  proportioned  to  the  scale  of 
the  room,  will  prove  adequate  for  its  structural 
requirements. 

The  preference  for  plain  walls,  as  for  plain  rugs 
and  plain  hangings,  is  largely  based  upon  the  belief 
that  they  are  more  restful  than  figured  walls,  make 
a  more  sympathetic  background  for  the  other  deco- 
rations, and  cause  the  room  to  appear  larger.  This 
belief  is  only  partially  warranted.  In  the  degree  that 
plain  walls  are  smooth  and  shiny  they  are  unrestful 
and  unsympathetic.  In  the  degree  that  either  walls 
or  floor  coverings  are  in  sharp  contrast  in  hue,  tone 
or  texture  with  the  objects  that  appear  against  them, 
they  tend  to  reduce  the  apparent  size  of  the  room. 
Moreover,  it  is  to  be  remembered  that  furniture  of 
ugly  or  eccentric  outline  is  emphasized  and  thrown 
into  an  unwelcome  relief  by  plain  walls,  and  reduced 
to  relative  impotence  by  repeating  but  inconspicuous 
pattern;  and,  finally,  that  in  the  degree  that  the  room 

167 


The  Principles  of  Interior  Decoration 

is  filled  with  furniture  of  many  styles,  its  unity  must 
be  emphasized  in  every  practicable  manner.  As  we 
have  seen,  the  simplest  way  to  emphasize  the  unity  of 
a  room  is  to  cover  its  background  surfaces  with  a 
repeating  pattern. 

Proportion  as  it  affects  the  distribution  of  tones, 
hues  and  ornament  will  be  discussed  in  later  chapters. 
No  discussion  of  any  phase  of  the  subject  can,  how- 
ever, be  more  than  helpfully  suggestive.  An  accurate 
sense  of  proportion  demands  that  certain  powers  of 
perception  and  comparison  be  strengthened,  and  they 
can  no  more  be  strengthened  by  reading  about  pro- 
portion than  the  body  can  be  strengthened  by  reading 
about  the  Petersen  exercises  or  the  Swoboda  system. 
The  eye  and  the  mind  must  be  trained  by  long  obser- 
vation and  study  of  beautiful  forms  in  nature  and  in 
art  to  perceive  the  subtle  spatial  relationships,  hidden 
utterly  from  the  untrained  eye,  upon  which  beauty 
and  significance,  in  decoration  as  in  all  the  arts,  so 
largely  depend. 


168 


CHAPTER   X 

BALANCE 

WHEN  a  man  stands  still,  his  body  erect,  his 
mind  tranquil  and  at  ease,  he  is  in  balance. 
The    two    sides    of   his    body,    similarly 
grouped  on  either  side  of  an  ideal  perpen- 
dicular center,  are  similarly  affected  by  the  force  of 
gravity,  with  a  resulting  state  of  equilibrium.     This 
state  of  equilibrium,  with  its  accompanying  sense  of 
rest,  poise  and  finished  activity,  is  emotionally  as  well 
as  physically  pleasing.     It  is  the  state  to  which  mind 
and  body  alike  tend  naturally  and  constantly  to  return 
after  periods  of  effort,  activity  and  excitement. 

As  would  be  expected,  this  instinctive  feeling  for 
balance  conditions  our  artistic  judgments.  Because 
the  state  of  equilibrium  is  inevitably  associated  by  the 
mind  with  effects  of  repose  and  tranquillity,  while 
lack  of  equilibrium  is  associated  with  effects  of  activ- 
ity and  excitement,  we  expect  to  find  in  any  work  of 
art  a  balanced  opposition  of  one  part  to  another  in 
the  degree  that  the  work  is  designed  to  suggest  the 
ideas  of  quiescence,  tranquillity  and  repose,  as  opposed 
to  those  of  movement,  activity  and  excitement.  And 
since  the  latter  motives  can  legitimately  play  no  part 
in  the  architecture  of  a  room,  and  but  very  small  part 

169 


The  Principles  of  Interior  Decoration 

in  its  decorative  treatment,  while  the  former  neces- 
sarily play  a  very  large  part,  we  expect  to  find  the 
important  architectural  and  decorative  elements  of  a 
furnished  room  so  grouped  that  the  room  appears  to 
be  in  a  state  of  equilibrium.  That  is,  we  expect  to 
find  the  room  in  balance,  and  we  are  perturbed  and 
uncomfortable  when  we  do  not  so  find  it.  Rooms 
that  lack  balance  lack  beauty,  no  matter  how  pleasing 
their  proportions,  their  coloring,  and  their  ornamental 
detail. 

Fundamentally,  balance  is  a  matter  of  mechanics, 
expressible  in  the  formula  W  :  W  : :  A'  :  A.  If 
equal  weights  are  hung  on  a  beam  at  opposite  sides 
of  the  fulcrum  or  center,  the  beam  will  be  in  balance 
when  the  weights  are  placed  at  equal  distances  from 
the  center.  Unequal  weights,  on  the  contrary,  will 
be  in  balance  only  when  their  distances  from  the  cen- 
ter are  inversely  proportional  to  their  weight.  Thus 
a  ten-pound  weight  six  inches  to  the  left  of  the  ful- 
crum will  balance  an  equal  weight  six  inches  to  the 
right.  If  we  add  a  five-pound  weight  to  each  side 
at  a  distance  of  four  inches  from  the  center  the  beam 
will  still  be  in  balance;  nor  will  it  be  disturbed  by  the 
addition  of  any  number  of  weights  of  any  sizes  what- 
ever; provided  always  that  for  each  weight  on  one 
side  of  the  center  an  equal  weight  is  hung  at  an  equal 
distance  from  the  center  on  the  other. 

If,  however,  we  wish  to  balance  the  ten-pound 
weight  at  six  inches  from  the  fulcrum  by  means  of  a 
five-pound  weight  on  the  other  side,  we  must,  accord- 
ing to  our  formula,  place  the  lighter  weight  twelve 

170 


Balance 

inches    from   the    fulcrum.    Thus:     io:5::x:6"; 
5x  equals  60";  x  equals  12". 

It  makes  no  difference  what  weights,  or  how  many, 
are  hung  on  one  side  of  the  fulcrum,  or  at  what  dis- 
tances. A  balance  can  always  be  obtained  by  multi- 
plying each  individual  weight  by  its  distance  from 
the  fulcrum,  adding  the  total,  and  then  hanging  the 
weights  on  the  other  side  in  such  positions  that  their 
total  of  weight  multiplied  by  distance  will  add  up  to 
the  same  amount. 

In  mechanics  an  actual  fulcrum  or  center  of  rota- 
tion is  of  course  necessary.  In  interior  decoration  an 
ideal  fulcrum  is  provided  by  the  normal  functioning  of 
the  eye.  Our  eyes  are  so  formed  that  at  a  given 
instant  they  can  see  distinctly  only  the  small  area  upon 
which  they  are  focused,  while  everything  else  lying 
within  the  general  field  of  vision  is  seen  more  or  less 
indistinctly.  Thus  when  we  look  at  a  wall  we  see 
clearly  but  one  small  part  of  it.  In  order  to  gain 
a  clear  impression  of  the  whole  wall  our  eyes  must 
constantly  move  up  and  down  and  from  side  to  side. 
As  a  result  of  these  processes  of  adjustment  our  eyes 
tend  to  fixate  the  center  of  the  wall,  since  this  posi- 
tion gives  us  the  clearest  possible  impression  of  the 
whole  area.  Thus  when  we  look  at  one  of  the  walls 
in  a  room  the  various  windows,  doors,  cabinets,  chairs, 
tables,  pictures  and  other  decorative  features  appearing 
against  the  wall  are  in  effect  arranged  on  either  side 
of  the  center  like  weights  on  either  side  of  a  fulcrum. 
Each  feature  exerts  upon  the  mind  an  attractive  force 
analogous  to  the  pull  of  gravity  upon  the  scale,  and 

171 


The  Principles  of  Interior  Decoration 

the  total  of  all  the  forces  upon  one  side  is  opposed  to 
the  total  of  all  those  upon  the  other.  By  the  law  of 
its  nature  the  mind  is  bound  to  attend  to  the  stronger 
force.  It  is  inclined  toward  the  side  of  the  more 
powerful  stimulus  quite  as  inevitably  as  the  beam  is 
inclined  toward  the  heavier  weight.  If  the  total  of 
attractive  forces  on  one  side  seems  greater  than  the 
total  of  those  on  the  other,  the  mind  is  conscious  of 
an  esthetically  unpleasing  sense  of  unrest  and  strain, 
akin  to  that  experienced  when  the  body  leans  from 
the  perpendicular  to  right  or  left,  or  when  a  weight  is 
borne  in  one  hand  while  the  other  remains  empty. 
But  when  the  various  features  have  been  so  adjusted 
that  the  opposing  totals  seem  to  be  equal  in  their 
power  of  attraction  the  mind  is  at  ease,  and  is  conscious 
of  an  esthetically  pleasing  sense  of  equipoise,  tran- 
quillity and  freedom  from  effort.  It  demands,  in  the 
furnished  room,  to  be  conscious  of  this  balance  as  be- 
tween the  two  sides  of  each  wall  with  the  center  of  the 
wall  as  a  fulcrum;  between  the  two  sides  of  the  room 
with  the  longitudinal  axis  as  a  fulcrum;  and  between 
the  two  ends  with  the  transverse  axis  as  a  fulcrum. 

If  the  decorative  weight,  or  power  of  attraction, 
possessed  by  the  diverse  features  employed  by  the 
decorator  varied  directly  with  their  area,  their  mass, 
or  any  other  measurable  factors,  every  problem  in 
decorative  balance  would  be  a  mechanical  problem, 
solvable  by  a  simple  application  of  the  formula  of 
balance.  Unhappily  the  matter  is  not  so  simple. 
Decorative  weight  depends  upon  many  factors — upon 
size,  shape,  color,  tone,  texture,  and  particularly  upon 

172 


Balance 

contrast — and  the  interrelations  of  these  several  factors 
make  the  problems  of  estimating  them  difficult  and  far. 
beyond  the  possibility  of  mechanical  calculation.  They 
must  for  the  most  part  be  felt,  not  computed.  In  this 
process  there  is  no  substitute  for  a  cultivated  taste. 

The  decorative  weight  of  the  various  objects  in  a 
room  will  vary,  other  things  being  equal,  directly  with 
their  mass;  or,  rather,  with  their  mass  as  affected  by 
the  laws  of  linear  perspective.  Thus  two  windows  three 
feet  by  six  feet  will,  if  uncurtained,  have  the  same 
weight ;  and  this  weight  will  be  practically  equal  to  that 
of  a  bookcase  of  the  same  width  and  height.  In  judg- 
ing of  the  effect  of  mass  or  area  the  mind  attaches  a 
superior  importance  to  width  as  opposed  to  height. 
Thus  a  bookcase  four  feet  wide  and  five  feet  high  would 
weigh  less,  in  a  decorative  sense,  than  would  a  case  five 
feet  wide  and  four  feet  high.  The  weight  of  any  object 
is  of  course  increased  by  sharply-defined  or  eccentric 
outline,  striking  ornament,  or  distinctive  coloring. 

The  importance  of  color  in  determining  the  decora- 
tive weight  of  an  object  is  in  part  absolute,  but  chiefly 
relative.  Absolutely,  without  reference  to  their  back- 
ground, the  several  hues  vary  in  their  power  of  attract- 
ing attention  directly  with  warmth  and  purity.  Thus 
red  will  outweigh  any  of  the  other  hues,  with  orange, 
yellow,  green,  blue  and  violet  in  order ;  while  vermilion 
will  outweigh  maroon  or  any  red  degraded  by  the  ad- 
mixture of  black  or  white,  as  emerald  will  outweigh 
myrtle  or  nile,  and  ultramarine  will  outweigh  indigo  or 
azure.  In  practice,  however,  the  weight  of  a  colored 
surface  is  very  largely  relative,  and  varies  directly  with 

173 


The  Principles  of  Interior  Decoration 

its  degree  of  contrast,  in  hue,  tone,  and  texture,  with  the 
background  against  which  it  appears.  Red  hangings 
against  a  red  wall  will  have  less  weight  than  hangings 
of  old  gold;  while  gold  will  have  less  than  blue,  and 
blue  less  than  green.  A  satinwood  chair,  though 
brighter  than  one  of  mahogany,  will  weigh  less  against 
a  champagne  ground.  Dark  tones  weigh  heavily 
against  a  light  background,  and  light  tones  against 
dark.  Considered  alone,  a  smooth  texture  having  a 
high  power  of  reflecting  light  will  outweigh  one  that 
is  loose  and  rough;  but  against  a  lustrous  satin  or 
damask  wall  a  lustreless  tapestry  or  rep  chair  covering 
will  outweigh  one  of  velvet  or  brocade,  as  Grueby 
pottery  will  outweigh  porcelain. 

It  is  evident  that  the  difficulties  of  weighing  the 
attractive  forces  which  enter  into  a  decorative  balance 
tend  to  grow  less  in  direct  proportion  to  the  likeness 
of  the  features,  and  that  they  disappear  altogether 
when  the  balanced  objects  are  exactly  alike.  To  ar- 
range a  chair  and  a  cabinet  against  a  given  wall  space 
in  such  a  way  as  to  place  the  wall  in  balance  may  easily 
prove  a  problem.  The  problem  becomes  easier  with 
two  chairs  of  analogous  size  and  shape,  and  progres- 
sively easier  as  the  likenesses  of  the  chairs  in  propor- 
tion, color  and  ornamental  detail  are  progressively  in- 
creased until,  with  two  identical  chairs,  it  becomes 
purely  mechanical  and  could  be  solved  by  a  child  with 
a  tape  measure. 

In  decoration,  then,  as  in  mechanics,  we  have  to  do 
with  two  kinds  of  balance :  that  produced  by  arranging 
identical  or  closely  analogous  elements  at  equal  dis- 

174 


Balance 

tances  from  a  real  or  ideal  center;  and  that  produced 
by  arranging  elements  more  or  less  unlike  at  unequal 
distances  from  the  center.  The  first  type,  called  bi- 
symmetric,  or  formal,  balance,  is  easy  to  produce  and 
so  easy  to  see  as  to  be  perfectly  obvious.  The  second 
type,  called  occult,  or  substitutional,  balance,  is  more 
difficult  to  produce  and  more  or  less  subtle.  Which  is 
to  be  preferred,  and  why?  For  the  general  answer 
to  these  questions  we  must  turn,  as  in  nearly  every 
other  question  of  practice,  to  considerations  of  fitness 
to  purpose. 

At  the  outset  it  is  to  be  noted  that  the  elements 
which  in  combination  make  up  the  organic  whole  of 
a  furnished  room  vary  widely  in  character  and  function, 
and  that  they  are,  in  fact,  divisible  naturally  into  three 
classes:  (a)  the  fixed  decorations;  (b)  the  furniture; 
and  (c)  the  small,  unimportant  pieces  and  decorative 
accessories  grouped  by  the  French  under  the  term 
decoration  volante,  or  flying  decoration. 

The  fixed  decorations,  which  include  the  trim,  fire- 
place, walls,  floor,  ceiling,  doors,  and  windows  with 
their  hangings,  are  clearly  structural  in  character.  They 
are  not  fortuitous  but  rather  integral  parts  of  the  frame- 
work or  skeleton  of  the  room.  As  such  they  are  in 
their  effect  upon  the  mind  properly  permanent,  im- 
movable and  obvious,  and  they  ought  to  be  made  to 
reveal  these  characteristics  immediately  and  unmistak- 
ably. Clearly,  therefore,  the  fixed  decorations  ought 
to  be  characterized  in  a  marked  degree  by  formal 
balance. 

The  furniture  of  most  rooms  is  of  many  kinds  and 

175 


The  Principles  of  Interior  Decoration 

sizes.  In  the  living  room,  for  example,  some  pieces^ 
like  the  piano  and  bookcases,  are  immovable  and  semi- 
structural  in  character;  others,  like  the  davenport  and 
reading  table,  are  closely  related  by  their  size  and 
importance  to  the  structure  of  the  room,  and  by  their 
use  to  the  changing  moods  and  needs  of  the  household; 
still  others,  like  the  smaller  chairs  and  tables,  which 
lend  themselves  to  easy  grouping  and  regrouping,  are 
less  structural  and  more  intimate  and  personal.  Vary- 
ing widely  in  function  and  significance,  these  various 
pieces  properly  enter  the  general  balance  of  the  room 
in  positions  ranging  from  the  symmetrical  relationships 
usually  appropriate  to  the  large  immovable  pieces  down 
to  the  occult  relationships  suitable  to  the  arrangement 
of  the  small  and  unimportant  pieces. 

The  flying  decoration  is  made  up  of  small  screens, 
footstools,  stands,  lamps,  pictures,  pottery  and  similar 
fugitive  pieces  whose  primary  function  is  to  contribute 
the  personal  touches  necessary  to  individualize  the 
room,  to  rob  it  of  stiffness  or  heaviness,  give  it  a  note 
of  gayety  and  animation,  and  establish  among  all  its 
elements  a  sort  of  air  de  famille.  Accordingly,  such 
elements  ought  to  serve  as  a  tonic  or  corrective  for  the 
room,  which  would  without  them  seem  heavy,  over- 
formal  or  dead.  To  serve  this  end  the  flying  decoration 
must,  as  individual  pieces  and  as  groups,  be  distributed 
in  positions  of  occult  balance  more  or  less  easily  per- 
ceptible, according  to  the  size  and  purpose  of  the  room 
and  the  motive  of  its  decorative  treatment. 

It  is  clear  that  the  general  problem  of  the  decorator 
176 


Balance 

is  to  invest  his  room,  as  a  unit,  with  the  degree  of 
repose  and  steadiness  essential  to  comfortable  living, 
while  he  at  the  same  time  invests  it  with  whatever 
degree  of  lightness,  animation  and  subtlety  best  accords 
with  the  purpose  of  the  room  and  with  the  needs  and 
tastes  of  its  occupants.  In  other  words  his  problem, 
here  as  everywhere,  is  to  create  an  effect  of  unity  in 
diversity,  since  in  the  absence  of  such  an  effect  beauty 
cannot  be  made  to  appear  in  his  room.  Knowing  that 
bisymmetric  balance,  being  obvious,  makes  for  repose 
and  unity,  while  occult  balance  makes  for  animation 
and  subtlety;  and  knowing  that  the  fixed  decorations, 
as  structural  elements,  ought  to  be  more  obvious  and 
the  non-structural  more  subtle,  he  will  naturally  seek 
to  place  the  walls  of  his  room  in  a  condition  approxi- 
mating rather  closely  to  formal  balance.  The  emphasis 
properly  to  be  placed  upon  formal  balance  in  the  wall 
treatment  will  in  general  be  more  marked  (a)  in  a 
very  large  room,  where  emphasis  upon  structure  is 
necessary  in  order  to  prevent  the  room  from  appearing 
weak  and  amorphous;  (b)  in  any  room  intended  to  be 
markedly  restrained  and  formal  in  character;  (c)  in 
a  hall,  or  room  in  which  people  do  not  linger,  since 
such  a  room  must  be  made  to  reveal  whatever  it  pos- 
sesses of  character  and  interest  to  the  passing  glance; 
and  (d)  in  a  room  to  be  furnished  with  a  large  number 
of  small  and  widely-varying  elements,  since  such  a 
room  tends  naturally  to  become  over-complex  and  con- 
fusing. While  no  definite  formula  can  be  adduced, 
we  may,  however,  consider  that  in  the  ordinary  room 

177 


The  Principles  of  Interior  Decoration 

two  walls  symmetrically  balanced  will  be  too  few  and 
four  walls  too  many.  Three  constitute  the  ideal  to- 
ward which  to  work. 

Where  a  single  opening  is  placed  at  the  center  of 
a  wall,  or  like  openings  at  equal  distances  from  the 
center,  the  wall  will  be  in  balance.  Where  a  single 
opening  is  placed  at  any  point  other  than  the  center 
the  wall  will  be  out  of  balance,  and  a  balance  must  be 
created  either  bisymmetrically  or  substitutionally.  By 
the  latter  method  a  group  of  any  desired  composition — 
say  a  wall  table,  a  mirror,  a  bowl  of  flowers  and  a 
small  easel  picture — will  be  placed  against  the  wall 
on  the  other  side  of  the  center  at  a  point  where  the 
total  group  weight  seems  to  the  mind  to  be  equal  to 
that  of  the  opening.  By  the  former  method  a  single 
object — say  a  bookcase,  cabinet,  or  large  mirror  with 
its  supporting  console  bracket — of  a  shape  and  size 
practically  identical  with  that  of  the  opening,  is  placed 
against  the  wall  at  an  equal  distance  from  the  center. 
Here  the  mind  is  far  less  concerned  with  identity  in 
height  than  with  identity  in  width.  It  will,  for  ex- 
ample, accept  a  bookcase  four  feet  wide  and  five  feet 
high  as  a  balancing  weight  for  a  window  four  feet 
wide  and  seven  feet  high;  but  it  will  not  accept  a  hall 
clock  seven  feet  high  and  two  feet  wide,  or  a  tapestry 
seven  feet  high  and  five  feet  wide. 

In  the  case  of  two  unequal  openings  equally  distant 
from  the  center  the  wall  will  be  out  of  balance.  Where 
the  difference  in  width  is  slight  the  hangings  of  the 
narrower  opening  can  be  placed  far  enough  beyond 
the  casing  to  make  the  apparent  width  of  the  openings 

178 


Balance 

equal.     Where  this  is  impracticable  a  balance  must  be 
created  substitutionally. 

In  the  degree  that  the  decorator  finds  it  possible 
sufficiently  to  emphasize  bisymmetric  balance  in  the 
fixed  decorations  of  the  room,  he  will  incline  toward 
a  more  occult  distribution  of  the  movables.  In  the 
degree  that  he  finds  it  impossible  he  must  minimize 


FIGURE  37. — The  sofa  and  picture,  constituting  the  most  im- 
portant element  of  the  treatment,  are  in  symmetrical  balance. 
The  cabinet  on  one  side  is  balanced  substitutionally  by  the  com- 
posite group  on  the  other  side.  Note  however  that  a  suggestion 
of  symmetry  is  afforded  by  the  fact  that  the  cabinet  and  lamp  are 
of  the  same  height,  and  that  their  centers  are  equidistant  from 
the  center  of  the  wall. 

the  effect  of  deficiencies  in  structure  through  a  greater 
emphasis  upon  formal  balance  in  the  distribution  of 
movables.  Thus  in  a  room  having  symmetrically 
placed  openings  on  three  sides  and  the  fourth  wall 
blank,  he  will  be  likely  to  arrange  the  features  on  that 
wall  in  an  occult  balance.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  the 
openings  of  two  or  three  walls  are  unsymmetrically 

179 


The  Principles  of  Interior  Decoration 


placed,  the  blank  wall  will  normally  be  arranged  in 
formal  balance,  since  such  an  arrangement  will  tend 
to  restore  the  unity  and  repose  of  the  whole  treatment. 
In  formal  balance  the  most  important  object  will 
naturally  be  placed  at  the  center  of  the  wall.  If  there 
are  two  identical  important  elements  they  will  be  placed 
at  either  side  of  the  center,  at  a  distance  determined 


FIGURE  38. — Occult  balance,  poorly  arranged.  Note  that  the 
cabinet  appears  to  be  a  little  too  heavy;  also  that  both  cabinet 
and  lamp  affect  the  mind  with  a  sense  of  constraint,  due  to  their 
closeness  to  the  end  walls. 

by  what  use  is  to  be  made  of  the  remaining  wall  space. 
In  occult  balance  the  most  important  object  will  be 
placed  far  enough  from  the  center  so  that  the  mind 
will  be  in  no  doubt  of  the  fact  that  it  was  not  intended 
to  be  in  the  center,  and  at  a  distance  determined  by 
the  decorative  weight  of  the  features  on  the  other  side, 
according  to  the  formula  that  unequal  attractions  bal- 
ance at  distances  inversely  proportional  to  their  weight. 

1 80 


Balance 

In  the  case  of  a  large  piece,  like  an  upright  piano, 
to  be  placed  against  a  short  wall,  it  will  sometimes 
happen  that  the  piece  must  be  placed  at  the  exact 
center,  even  though  the  decorator  may  desire  to  avoid 
by  every  means  the  appearance  of  formality  or  stiffness 
in  the  room,  since  the  wall  space  available  is  too  short 
to  permit  the  use  of  features  sufficiently  numerous  and 
heavy  to  produce  an  occult  balance.  In  this  case  he 


FIGURE  39. — A  better  arrangement  of  the  same  elements  in 
occult  balance.  The  decorator  would  in  practice  be  justified  in 
placing  the  chair  so  near  the  end  wall  only  in  the  case  of  a  win- 
dow in  that  wall  which  would  make  the  chair  usable.  Every 
arrangement  of  furniture  must  be  based  first  of  all  upon  a  study 
of  all  the  considerations  of  fitness  to  function  involved. 

will  fill  the  spaces  at  either  side  with  features  markedly 
dissimilar;  for  example,  an  English  card-table  with 
some  small  accessories  at  one  side  and  a  floor  lamp 
and  chair  at  the  other.  Where  the  weight  of  one  group 
is  slightly  greater  than  that  of  the  other,  he  can  restore 
the  balance  while  adding  to  the  diversity  of  the  wall 

181 


The  Principles  of  Interior  Decoration 

as  a  composition  by  placing  a  single  small  object,  as 
a  vase  or  plastic  figure,  on  the  piano  toward  the  end 
near  the  lighter  group. 

While  it  is  the  primary  function  of  small  decorative 
objects  and  of  decoration  volante  generally  to  indi- 
vidualize the  room  and  to  give  it  animation,  snap  and 
decorative  charm,  it  is  clear  that  the  decorator  will  need 
to  resort  to  formal  balance  in  distributing  these  objects 
in  rooms  where  the  openings  and  heavy  pieces  of 
furniture  are  markedly  unsymmetrical.  Thus  a  single 
small  piece  will,  if  placed  above  the  center  of  a  wall 
table  or  cabinet,  emphasize  the  unity  and  repose,  not 
only  of  the  piece  so  embellished,  but  also  of  the  room 
as  a  whole.  The  same  effect,  sharply  intensified,  will 
be  produced  by  a  pair  of  identical  objects  placed  at  equal 
distances  from  the  center.  On  the  other  hand,  two, 
three,  four,  or  even  five  small,  unimportant  objects  may 
be  grouped  in  occult  balance  in  such  a  way  as  to  increase 
the  animation  and  subtlety  of  the  whole  treatment. 

In  considering  the  balanced  distribution  of  pictures, 
it  must  be  remembered  at  the  outset  that  the  require- 
ments of  unity  demand  that  pictures  to  be  hung  on 
the  same  wall,  or  even  in  the  same  room,  reveal  easily 
perceptible  likenesses.  Monochromes  will  not  ordi- 
narily be  hung  with  colored  pictures,  and,  in  general, 
water  colors  will  not  be  hung  with  oils,  or  wood  frames 
with  gilt.  Normally  there  will  also  be  considerable 
similarity  in  subject  and  handling,  and  marked  simi- 
larity in  tone.  Moreover,  where  small  pictures  are  to 
be  hung  on  a  large  wall  space  the  requirements  of  unity 
demand  that  they  be  so  grouped  that  the  mind,  regard- 

182 


Balance 


ing  the  group  as  a  unit,  will  accept  it  as  sufficiently 
large  and  important  to  be  congruous  with  the  wall 
space.  In  this  case  the  pictures  must  be  fairly  close 
in  tone  to  the  wall,  since  the  effect  of  marked  tone 
contrast  would  be  to  emphasize  the  individuality  of 


a 


FIGURE  40. — The  oblique  lines  created  by  hanging  a  rectangular 
picture  as  at  a  are  in  general  objectionable  because  they  catch 
the  attention  and  lead  it  away  from  the  picture  to  the  hook.  In 
b  there  is  no  such  tendency,  while  harmony  is  ensured  by  the 
repetition  of  the  straight  verticals  of  the  frame.  Pictures  or 
mirrors  of  curvilinear  outline  should  however  be  hung  as  at  d, 
since  the  method  c  breaks  the  rhymthic  flow  of  line. 

each  small  picture  so  sharply  that  the  eye  could  not 
see  them  as  a  group.  If  all  these  precautions  are 
observed,  pictures  may  be  hung  according  to  the 
mechanical  formula  of  balance,  the  decorative  weight 
of  each  picture  being  based  upon  its  surface  area.  It 
may  be  noted  in  passing  that  pictures  should  be  hung 


The  Principles  of  Interior  Decoration 

flat  against  the  wall,  the  smaller  ones  without  visible 
support,  the  larger  by  means  of  two  cords  or  wires 
rising  vertically  from  near  the  ends  of  each  picture 
to  two  hooks,  since  it  is  only  in  the  case  of  elliptical 
or  circular  shapes,  where  the  cords  leave  the  circum- 
ference at  a  tangent,  that  we  are  in  ordinary  practice 
justified  in  running  the  cords  over  a  single  hook. 
Pictures  should  be  so  hung  as  to  place  their  centers  of 
interest  at  eye  height,  and  normally  those  hung  in  a 
horizontal  line  on  the  same  wall  will  have  their  centers 
of  interest  in  line,  rather  than  the  tops  or  bottoms  of 
their  frames. 

In  practice  it  rarely  happens  that  a  picture  of  any 
considerable  decorative  weight  will  be  hung  by  itself. 
The  mind  demands  not  only  lateral  balance,  but  also 
a  support  which  seems  to  be  adequate.  This  demand 
is  best  satisfied  by  hanging  the  picture  directly  above 
some  such  other  unit  as  a  cabinet,  table  or  chair,  which 
rests  upon  the  floor  and  is  wider  than  the  picture  and 
therefore  appears  to  be  stronger.  Moreover,  the 
decorative  value  of  a  skillfully  arranged  group,  which 
reveals  the  presence  of  unity  in  diversity,  is  so  great, 
and  the  floor  area  of  most  rooms  so  limited,  that  it 
would  in  general  be  a  waste  of  opportunity  to  use  two 
units  separately  where  it  is  possible  to  combine  them. 
It  must  be  noted  that  while  a  picture  hung  above  an- 
other unit  which  rests  upon  the  floor  must  be  narrower 
than  the  lower  member  in  order  to  insure  an  effect  of 
stability  in  the  group,  in  the  case  of  two  pictures  hung 
vertically  the  wider  or  larger  must  be  above,  since  the 

184 


Balance 

mind  in  this  situation  regards  the  lower  unit  as  depend- 
ing from  and  supported  by  the  upper  unit. 

A  large  rug  is  as  much  a  part  of  the  fixed  decorations 
as  are  the  walls  and  the  openings,  and  it  must  accord- 
ingly be  placed  symmetrically  with  reference  to  the 
width  of  the  room  in  every  case,  and  with  reference 
to  the  length  of  the  room  in  most  cases.  When  a  large 
rug  is  crowded  by  a  projecting  hearth  into  a  markedly 
unsymmetrical  position  on  the  floor,  the  whole  effect 
of  the  room  is  marred,  and  its  balance  can  be  restored 
only  by  using  an  all-over  carpet  or  a  number  of  care- 
fully placed  small  rugs,  or  else  by  cutting  the  big  rug 
in  the  manner  suggested  in  the  chapter  on  proportion. 

When  the  decorator  has  insured  the  necessary  struc- 
tural emphasis  and  repose  of  his  background  surfaces 
by  giving  to  the  floor  and  to  the  wall  spaces  and  open- 
ings a  degree  of  symmetrical  balance  more  or  less 
marked,  according  to  the  size  and  motive  of  the  room, 
he  will  proceed  to  invest  his  whole  treatment  with 
subtlety  and  decorative  charm  by  a  more  or  less  marked 
degree  of  occult  balance  in  the  distribution  of  furniture 
and  decoration  volante.  It  is  obvious  that  no  rules  can 
be  formulated  to  guide  him  in  this  process,  and  that 
he  must  proceed  experimentally.  For  example,  in  a 
living  room  having  a  fireplace  in  the  middle  of  one 
side  and  covered  by  a  large  rug,  he  may  wish  to  place 
a  large  sofa  at  right  angles  to  the  fireplace  and  toward 
one  end  of  the  room,  and  to  balance  it  by  a  reading 
table  and  chair  placed  at  right  angles  to  the  fireplace 
on  the  other  side.  The  exact  position  of  these  pieces 

185 


The  Principles  of  Interior  Decoration 

will  be  determined  by  the  general  arrangement  and 
the  lighting  of  the  room,  and  by  the  tastes  and  con- 
venience of  its  occupants.  If,  when  the  pieces  arc  in 
position,  the  sofa  seems  to  be  too  heavy  for  the  oppos- 
ing group,  the  decorative  weight  of  this  group  must  be 
increased  by  (a)  moving  it  farther  back  from  the  cen- 
ter of  the  room;  (b)  keeping  it  in  position,  while  the 
sofa  is  moved  closer  to  the  center  of  the  room;  or  (c) 
keeping  all  the  pieces  in  position,  while  adding  to  the 
decorative  weight  of  the  group  by  the  addition  of 
another  chair,  a  colorful  table  runner,  a  relatively  larger 
and  more  striking  lamp,  a  row  of  books  between  book- 
blocks,  or  of  some  similar  stimuli.  If,  on  the  other 
hand,  the  sofa  seems  too  light,  these  processes  will  be 
reversed. 

While  the  balance  between  opposite  ends  and  opposite 
sides  of  a  room  must  be  clearly  felt,  it  will  be  the  more 
pleasing  in  the  degree  that  it  is  occult  rather  than 
formal.  No  one  wants  to  see  the  two  sides  of  a  room 
exactly  alike;  yet  we  cannot  be  free  from  a  sense  of 
unrest  unless  there  is  an  easily  apprehensible  equality 
between  the  total  weights  of  the  two  sides.  In  practice 
the  student  will  find  it  of  the  utmost  value  to  draw  an 
accurate  floor  plan  and  elevations  of  his  room,  to  a 
scale  of  one  inch,  or  at  least  of  one-half  inch,  to  the 
foot,  according  to  the  method  indicated  in  Figure  41. 
With  the  size  and  shape  of  the  room  and  the  distribu- 
tion of  voids  and  masses  thus  clearly  before  him,  he 
can  pencil  in,  according  to  the  same  scale,  outlines  to 
represent  the  rugs,  furniture  and  pictures  and  other 
elements  that  he  purposes  to  use  in  the  room.  These 

186 


Balance 

pieces  can  be  arranged  and  rearranged  until  their  dis- 
tribution finally  seems  satisfactory  with  reference  to 


FIGURE  41. — Typical  floor  plan  and  elevations,  drawn  to  a  very 
small  scale.  The  layman  will  probably  find  it  more  helpful  in 
practice  to  omit  the  part  of  the  drawing  that  shows  the  wall 
thickness,  and  to  start  the  four  elevations  from  the  inner  floor 
line. 

both  axes  of  the  room.  The  effectiveness  of  the  device 
can  be  increased  by  washing  in  the  principal  colors,  and 
by  folding  up  the  four  elevations  to  form  enclosing 
walls. 

187 


The  Principles  of  Interior  Decoration 

It  would  be  fruitless  to  extend  further  the  discussion 
of  balance  as  it  conditions  the  arrangement  of  the 
movables  in  a  room,  since  such  a  discussion  could  of 
necessity  deal  only  in  generalities,  while  the  complex 
of  personal  and  architectural  factors,  different  for  each 
room,  makes  the  problem  presented  by  each  room 
unique.  The  principles  laid  down  indicate  the  general 
method  of  arrangement,  and  innumerable  illustrations 
in  books  and  magazines  afford  a  wide  field  for  sugges- 
tive study.  This  study  will  be  made  more  fruitful  by 
following  the  plan  outlined  above;  but  a  perfect  or 
even  a  fairly  excellent  arrangement  can  rarely  be 
attained  except  as  the  result  of  much  experiment.  In 
most  of  the  processes  of  house-furnishing  experiment 
is  costly,  since  it  involves  discarding  some  things  and 
buying  others.  In  experimenting  with  effects  of 
balance  no  expenditure  is  demanded  save  that  of  time 
and  effort,  while  the  gains,  both  in  the  beauty  of  the 
room  and  in  the  growth  of  creative  power  in  the 
decorator,  are  always  considerable  and  frequently 
astonishing. 

The  balance  of  color  is  qualitative  rather  than  quanti- 
tative. A  small  area  of  a  given  color  in  one  situation 
will  effectively  balance  a  large  area  in  an  opposing 
situation.  Thus  a  small  chair  will  balance  in  color 
a  large  davenport,  as  a  lamp  shade  or  a  vase  will  balance 
a  pair  of  hangings  or  a  table  cover.  Color  balance  will 
be  treated  at  greater  length  in  the  chapter  on  color 
harmony,  while  the  balanced  distribution  of  light  and 
shade  so  essential  to  the  comfort  and  distinction  of  a 
room  will  be  discussed  in  the  following  chapter. 

1 88 


CHAPTER  XI 

LIGHT   AND   SHADE 

WE  all  recognize   the  importance  of  chiaro- 
scuro in  painting,  of  stage  lighting  in  the 
drama,  and  even  of  lights  and  shadows  in 
exterior  architecture.    Strangely  enough, 
however,  very  few  of  us  realize  adequately  the  impor- 
tance of  light  and  shade  as  esthetic   factors  in  the 
decoration  of  interiors. 

Light  is  life.  It  stimulates  and  excites,  while  dark- 
ness is  lethargic  and  depressing.  Our  vital  energies 
flow  and  ebb  with  alterations  in  the  intensity  and  the 
brilliancy  of  the  light.  Hence  we  must  expect  to  find 
that  our  esthetic  reactions  are  similarly  affected  by  the 
same  factors.  In  point  of  fact,  light  not  only  makes 
the  beauty  of  harmonious  coloring  possible  in  onr 
rooms,  but  by  itself,  apart  from  color,  it  gives  them 
vitality,  atmosphere,  and  emotional  significance.  Its 
life-giving,  warming  qualities  make  it  a  factor  of 
tremendous  importance  in  the  art  of  decoration,  where 
it  enters  into  every  problem  of  composition  and  concurs 
in  the  proper  expression  of  every  emotional  idea. 

One  who  wishes  to  prove  experimentally,  and  in  his 
own  person,  the  power  of  light  and  darkness  to  affect 
his  emotional  states,  has  only  to  step  out  of  doors 

189 


The  Principles  of  Interior  Decoration 

before  the  dawn  of  a  summer's  day,  and  to  remain  out 
until  after  the  fall  of  night.  He  will  find  that  in  the 
cold  and  feeble  light  which  precedes  the  dawn  his 
spirits  fall,  his  mood  becomes  depressed.  As  the  sky 
grows  grayer  and  lighter  the  mood  tends  to  pass,  and 
with  the  first  direct  rays  of  the  rising  sun  it  is  instantly 
succeeded  by  a  feeling  of  gladness  and  elation.  The 
flood  of  physical  and  psychical  energies  thus  released 
by  the  power  of  the  light  seems,  as  the  sun  rises  toward 
the  zenith,  to  increase  with  the  increasing  quantity  and 
brilliancy  of  the  light. 

In  time,  however,  a  point  will  be  reached  where 
increasing  intensity  of  illumination  has  no  further 
power  to  stimulate.  Once  this  point  has  been  passed 
the  light  becomes  dazzling,  fatiguing,  finally  even  pain- 
ful. When,  with  the  approach  of  sunset,  the  brilliant 
light  is  softened  and  reduced,  he  will  feel  a  sense  of 
quiet  well-being,  of  serenity  and  poise.  After  sunset, 
tired  by  the  activities  and  excitement  of  the  day,  he  will 
welcome  the  peace  and  calm  of  the  shadows.  But  as 
the  early  shadows  pass  into  the  obscurity  of  night  the 
peculiar  power  of  the  dark  will  against  assert  itself. 
Again  his  mood  will  become  sober,  then  somber,  and 
in  time  depressed. 

Brilliant  light,  like  pure  color,  rapidly  exhausts 
nervous  energy.  It  is  fatiguing  physically  and  un- 
endurable esthetically.  The  decorator  must  see  to  it 
that  his  rooms  receive  plenty  of  light,  but  he  must  also 
see  to  it  that  adequate  means  are  provided  to  soften 
and  dim  this  light  when  necessary,  and  to  alter  the 
amount  admitted  at  each  opening  easily  and  at  will. 

190 


Light  and  Shade 

Only  in  this  way  can  the  room  be  made  pleasant  under 
all  conditions  of  natural  light,  and  adjusted  perfectly 
to  the  changing  moods  of  its  occupants,  which  will 
demand,  both  for  physical  comfort  and  for  esthetic 
enjoyment,  wide  and  relatively  frequent  changes  in 
the  quantity  as  well  as  in  the  intensity  of  the  light. 

In  practice  this  means  that  the  windows  of  most 
rooms  should  be  provided  with  thin  undercurtains, 
which  will  serve  to  temper  the  glare  of  over-brilliant 
sunlight  by  day,  and  to  give  to  the  room  so  curtained 
a  suggestion  of  reticence  and  an  esthetic  quality  of 
softness  and  subtlety  otherwise  absent,  while  at  night 
they  hide  the  bleak  or  black  rectangles  revealed  by 
uncurtained  windows,  or  the  no  less  unpleasant  drawn 
shades.  Undercurtains  may  be  made  of  net,  muslin, 
silk  tissue,  casement  cloth,  or  any  other  thin  material, 
and  they  may  be,  and  very  often  are,  mounted  on 
small  brazed  or  bone  rings  and  a  rod,  so  that  they  can 
be  easily  drawn  or  pushed  back  when  it  is  desired  to 
make  the  most  of  the  morning  sun,  or  to  reveal  a  fine 
view. 

In  addition  to  the  undercurtains,  which  temper  the 
light  but  are  incapable  of  excluding  it  altogether,  most 
windows  require  either  shades  or  hangings  made  to 
draw  easily  across  the  entire  window,  in  order  that  the 
light  may  be  properly  within  the  control  of  the  deco- 
rator. In  point  of  beauty  and  distinction  the  movable 
hangings  are  of  course  to  be  preferred.  Their  cost  is, 
however,  very  much  greater  than  that  of  shades,  while 
they  do  not  in  fact  control  the  light  so  perfectly  as  do 
properly  made  shades.  In  any  case,  apart  from  any 

191 


The  Principles  of  Interior  Decoration 

considerations  of  color,  line  or  texture,  some  method 
of  controlling  the  light  is  absolutely  essential  for 
esthetic  no  less  than  for  practical  reasons,  and  the 
decorator  must  not  permit  himself  to  be  carried  away 
by  the  crochetty  but  rather  widespread  notion  that  the 
light  should  never  be  altered,  and  that  there  is  a  peculiar 
preciousness  and  virtue  in  making  the  inside  of  one's 
home  as  much  as  possible  like  the  outdoors  at  all  times 
and  seasons. 

The  quantity  and  intensity  of  illumination  desirable 
in  a  given  room  depends  chiefly  upon  its  purpose  and 
the  motive  of  its  decorative  treatment.  In  the  degree 
that  a  room  is  to  be  used  primarily  for  rest  after  labor 
and  for  recuperation  from  the  effects  of  activity  and 
excitement  the  amount  and  brilliancy  of  the  light  should 
be  reduced  to  the  minimum  required  for  the  physical 
comfort  of  the  eye ;  while  in  the  degree  that  it  is  to  be 
a  scene  of  animation  and  gayety,  occupied  by  people 
who  have  energies  to  expend  and  who  demand  joyous- 
ness,  vivacity  and  social  contact,  the  amount  and  bril- 
liancy of  the  light  must  be  increased  to  the  maximum 
permitted  by  the  physical  comfort  of  the  eye.  This 
principle  conditions  lighting  both  by  day  and  by  night, 
though  it  often  happens  that  a  given  room  will  serve 
somewhat  different  needs  by  day  and  by  night,  and 
will  accordingly  require  a  different  intensity  of  illu- 
mination. In  its  effect  upon  our  comfort,  and  par- 
ticularly upon  our  emotional  states,  artificial  lighting 
is  even  more  important  than  natural  lighting,  for  we 
use  artificial  light  at  the  end  of  the  day,  when  work  or 
worry  have  made  their  inevitable  changes  in  our  nerv- 

192 


Light  and  Shade 

ous  condition,  and  when  the  stimulating  power  of 
bright  light  and  the  calming  power  of  dim  light  must 
be  used  skillfully  in  order  to  correct  or  to  confirm  our 
moods. 

Light  in  a  room  may  be  either  direct  or  indirect. 
That  is,  it  may  reach  the  eye  directly  from  its  source, 
or  it  may  be  reflected  and  diffused  by  the  walls,  ceiling, 
or  other  surfaces  of  the  room,  the  illuminating  agent 
remaining  out  of  sight.  The  dynamic,  vitalizing  power 
of  light  is  peculiar  to  radiant  light.  Reflected  light 
does  not  possess  it.  Thus  a  room  lighted  by  reflected 
or  diffused  sunlight,  though  it  may  be  cheerful  and 
serene,  can  never  possess  the  joyous,  animating  quality 
of  a  room  which  receives  the  direct  rays  of  the  sun. 
Nor  can  indirect  artificial  light,  no  matter  how  power- 
ful its  source,  kindle  a  sense  of  gayety  and  excitement. 
There  would  be  the  same  difference  between  a  ballroom 
lighted,  however  skillfully,  by  the  indirect  method,  and 
one  lighted  by  crystal  chandeliers,  that  there  would  be 
between  dance  music  played  with  open  and  with  muted 
strings.  Indeed,  the  charm  of  any  room  depends 
largely  upon  the  skillful  use  of  radiant  light.  By 
night  this  light  may  come  chiefly  from  ceiling  fixtures, 
or  from  wall  brackets,  or  from  lamps.  It  may  flood 
the  whole  room,  as  in  a  ballroom,  or  it  may,  as  in  a 
living  room,  be  so  shaded  as  to  illuminate  merely  the 
keyboard  of  the  piano,  the  corner  of  a  reading  table, 
or  the  arm  of  an  easy  chair.  But  unless  there  is  some- 
where the  gleam  of  light  radiated  directly  from  its 
source,  there  can  be  no  vivacity  or  brilliancy  of  effect. 

It  is  clear  that  the  illumination  of  a  given  room  will 

193 


The  Principles  of  Interior  Decoration 

depend,  first,  upon  the  amount  and  character  of  the 
light  admitted  to  the  room  by  day  or  generated  therein 
by  night,  and,  secondly,  upon  the  relative  luminosity 
and  power  of  reflection  of  the  surfaces  by  which  the 
light  is  diffused.  If  little  light  is  admitted  or  gen- 
erated the  room  will  be  relatively  dark;  and  if  little 
light  is  reflected  the  room  will  still  be  relatively  dark, 
however  great  the  amount  of  light  admitted.  What- 
ever light  finds  its  way  into  a  room  is  reflected  and 
diffused  chiefly  by  the  walls  and  ceiling,  and  this  diffu- 
sion will  vary  in  direct  proportion  to  the  luminosity, 
height  of  tone,  and  smoothness  of  texture  of  those 
surfaces.  Smooth  white  walls  will  yield  a  maximum 
reflection  of  light,  and  rough  black  walls  a  minimum. 
Between  these  two  extremes  the  gamut  of  grays  will 
vary  in  luminosity  according  to  the  amount  of  black 
in  the  mixture. 

Textures  vary  widely  in  their  power  of  reflecting 
light.  Nearly  all  wall  papers  absorb  more  light  than 
does  paint,  because  of  their  relatively  open  textures; 
but  the  variations  among  different  classes  of  papers,  as 
among  different  classes  of  cloth  fabrics,  are  too  irregu- 
lar to  admit  of  classification.  It  is  always  wise  in  prac- 
tice to  test  a  given  texture  under  the  light  with  which  it 
is  to  be  used,  if  there  is  the  least  doubt  as  to  how  it  will 
act.  In  general,  it  will  be  found  that  any  paper  or 
fabric,  hung  in  large  areas,  will  look  distinctly  darker 
than  the  sample  looked  in  the  shop,  so  that  the  total 
effect  of  the  room  will  be  lower  in  tone  than  was 
expected. 

The  differences  in  luminosity  among  the  various 
194 


Courtesy  of  Gill  &  Reigate  Ltd.,  London. 

PLATE  VII. — Finely-designed  wing  chair,  revealing  sound  propor- 
tions and  a  rhythmic  flow  of  like  curves.  Note  that  this  curve  is 
echoed  in  the  covering ;  that  the  pattern,  which  serves  to  enrich 
the  chair,  is  set  off  by  contrast  with  the  plain  outside  back  and 
arms ;  and  that  the  structural  lines  are  defined  by  a  properly  made 
gimp. 


Light  and  Shade 

hues,  apart  from  considerations  of  tone  and  texture, 
are  very  great.  These  differences  are  illustrated 
graphically,  though  with  approximate  accuracy  only, 

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FIGURE  42. — Curve  representing  graphically  the  relative  lumi- 
nosity of  the  spectrum  hues  in  their  normal  intensity. 

in  Figure  42.  Study  of  the  curve  of  luminosity  re- 
veals, for  example,  that  normal  red,  violet  and  blue 
reflect  very  little  light,  while  normal  yellow  reflects 
a  great  amount;  that  yellow-orange  is  almost  four 
times  as  luminous  as  red-orange;  yellow-green  six 

195 


The  Principles  of  Interior  Decoration 

times  as  luminous  as  blue-green;  while  normal  yellow 
is  almost  twenty  times  as  luminous  as  normal  red. 
Inasmuch  as  the  luminosity  of  the  light-reflecting 
surfaces  is  a  factor  which  largely  determines  the 
amount  of  light,  either  natural  or  artificial,  necessary 
to  bring  a  room  up  to  a  desired  degree  of  illumination, 
it  is  evident  that  the  importance  of  this  factor  in 
choosing  the  color  of  background  surfaces  can  hardly 
be  over-estimated.  Where  the  amount  of  light  avail- 
able by  day  is  limited  by  the  situation  or  fenestration 
of  the  room,  or  the  amount  available  by  night  is 
limited  by  considerations  of  economy,  luminous  colors 
and  firm,  smooth  and  light-reflecting  textures  must  be 
chosen. 

In  determining  the  nature  and  distribution  of  light 
desirable  in  a  given  room,  and  the  height  of  tone  desir- 
able in  its  various  colored  surfaces,  the  general  problem 
of  the  decorator  is  five-fold.  He  must  determine  (a) 
the  intensity  and  character  of  illumination  most  fitting 
for  the  particular  room  to  be  lighted;  (b)  the  height 
of  tone  desirable  for  the  background  surfaces;  (c) 
the  distribution  of  light  and  dark  tones  as  to  position 
in  the  room;  (d)  their  distribution  as  to  relative  area; 
and  (e)  the  distance  by  which  the  principal  and  secon- 
dary tones  must  be  separated  in  order  to  yield  the 
maximum  esthetic  effect. 

The  first  consideration  was  discussed  in  an  earlier 
paragraph  of  this  chapter,  wherein  it  appeared  that 
within  the  limits  imposed  by  the  physical  comfort  of 
the  eye  the  amount  and  brilliancy  of  the  light  desirable 
in  a  given  room  will  depend  upon  the  function  of  the 

196 


PLATE  VIII. — Wing  chair  in  which  the  flow  of 
curved  line  is  abruptly  broken  by  the  use  of 
straight  legs  and  base.  Note  the  difference  in 
richness  between  plain  and  ornamented  surfaces 
by  comparing  this  chair  with  the  one  in  Plate 
VII. 


Light  and  Shade 


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room,  and  hence  upon  the  motive  of  its  decorative 
treatment. 

If  we  conceive  of  the  entire  range  of  values  from 
carbon  black  to  the  dazzling  white  of  the  diamond  or 
of  sunlit  snow  as  forming  a  scale  of  one  hundred  and 
fifty  degrees,  with  black  at  o  and  dazzling  white  at 
150,  the  white  of  white  paper  or  white  paint  will  lie 
at  100,  gray  at  50,  dark  gray 
at  25,  and  light  gray  at  75,  as 
in  Figure  43.  On  this  scale 
light  gray  appears  midway  be- 
tween the  two  extremes,  and 
while  colored  surfaces  having 
the  luminosity  of  light  gray 
are  markedly  brighter  than 
those  characteristic  of  outdoor 
nature,  long  experiment  and 
observation  have  shown  that 

they  are  most  agreeable  when 

j      .    ,  T  .   1  ,  FIGURE  43.  —  A  scale  of 

used     indoors.     Light     gray  tone     relationships,     from 

seems  to  be  the  degree  of  black,  as  of  black  paint,  to 
u  •  i_.  ,  •  ,  ,,  r  ,  the  white  of  sunlit  snow  or 

brightness  which  the  eye  finds  the  diamond. 

least  fatiguing,  and  to  which 

our  nerves  seem  best  adapted.  Since  the  walls  lie 
immediately  before  the  eye,  the  wall  colors,  whatever 
their  hues,  will  normally  approximate  rather  closely  to 
light  gray  in  tone.  We  will  lower  the  tone  of  the  walls 
in  rooms  where  a  marked  effect  of  tranquillity  is  aimed 
at,  and  raise  it  in  rooms  where  a  marked  effect  of 
gayety  and  animation  is  desired.  But  in  general  this  is 
the  ideal  toward  which  the  decorator  will  work  ;  and  in 

197 


The  Principles  of  Interior  Decoration 

so  working  he  is  concerned,  as  we  have  just  noted,  with 
two  important  factors :  the  amount  of  natural  or  arti- 
ficial light  available,  and  the  luminosity  of  the  hues  with 
which  he  works. 

As  to  the  distribution  of  light  and  shade  according 
to  position  in  the  room,  the  fundamental  fact  here  as 
everywhere  in  decorative  composition  is  that  beauty 
can  appear  only  in  the  presence  of  unity  in  variety; 
and  here,  as  everywhere,  unity  must  be  insured  through 
the  repetition  of  like  elements  and  the  predominance 
of  one  element.  This  consideration  was  discussed  in 
the  chapter  on  contrast,  wherein  it  appeared  that  in 
the  treatment  of  the  background  surfaces  of  the  room 
three  zones  or  registers  of  closely-related  tones  best 
satisfy  the  requirements  of  the  mind,  with  the  darkest 
zone  at  the  floor,  the  lightest  at  the  ceiling,  and  the 
mid-zone  on  the  walls.  It  remains  to  ascertain  what 
relative  areas  best  please  the  mind,  and  how  far  apart 
in  tone  the  three  zones  should  be. 

Sir  Joshua  Reynolds  noted  that  the  great  Venetian 
colorists  gave  about  one-fourth  of  each  canvas  to  the 
lights,  including  the  principal  and  secondary  lights, 
about  one- fourth  to  the  shadows,  and  the  remaining 
one-half  to  the  mid-tones.  This  constitutes  an  excellent 
ideal  toward  which  to  work  in  interior  decoration.  In 
superficial  area,  before  color  is  applied,  the  floor  and 
ceiling  of  a  room  are  equal,  and  together  they  are 
approximately  equal  to  the  wall  area,  including  the 
openings.  In  practice  there  is  wide  room  for  variations 
in  these  proportions.  The  area  of  darks  is  reduced  by 

198 


Light  and  Shade 

the  margin  around  the  rug  unless  the  floor  is  stained 
to  a  dark  tone,  and  increased  by  dark  furniture  and 
furniture  coverings  and  hangings;  while  the  area  of 
mid-tones  is  of  course  correspondingly  reduced.  Ac- 
cordingly, it  is  the  problem  of  the  decorator — and  a 
very  simple  one,  if  well  considered — to  choose  and 
distribute  his  light  and  dark  tones,  of  whatever  hue, 
in  such  a  way  that  the  half-tones  are  plainly  pre- 
ponderant and  as  nearly  as  practicable  equal  to  the 
total  of  both  light  and  dark. 

For  example,  in  a  room  eighteen  feet  long,  twelve 
feet  wide,  and  nine  feet  high,  the  floor  and  ceiling  areas 
would  be  216  square  feet  each,  or  a  total  of  432  square 
feet,  and  the  total  wall  areas,  including  the  openings, 
540  square  feet.  If  the  walls  were  done  in  tan  of  the 
luminosity  of  light  gray,  the  ceiling  in  light  cream,  and 
the  floor  in  golden  brown  of  the  luminosity  of  gray, 
while  the  windows  were  curtained  with  net  or  casement 
cloth  to  match  the  walls  in  tone,  the  half-tones  would 
be  clearly  dominant  and,  in  fact,  considerably  in  excess 
of  the  esthetic  requirement.  If,  however,  four  win- 
dows and  two  doors  to  adjoining  rooms  were  hung 
with  draperies  to  match  the  carpet  in  tone,  averaging 
twenty-four  square  feet  of  exposed  surface  to  each 
opening,  and  if  the  piano,  bookcase  and  chairs  appear- 
ing against  the  walls  were  of  dark  wood  and  had  an 
aggregate  of  fifty  square  feet,  the  total  of  lights  and 
darks  would  exceed  600  square  feet,  while  the  total 
of  half-tones  would  be  less  than  350  square  feet.  In 
fact,  the  darks  alone  would  slightly  exceed  the  half- 
tones, thus  destroying  the  unity  and  marring  the  beauty 

199 


The  Principles  of  Interior  Decoration 

of  the  room  by  eliminating  the  dominant  element.  In 
this  situation  it  would  be  necessary  to  substitute  lighter 
hangings — for  example,  a  printed  linen  of  which  one- 
fourth  only  of  the  area  was  dark — or  to  resort  to  some 
similar  device  or  devices  to  correct  the  faulty  distri- 
bution of  the  first  arrangement. 

In  reference  to  the  last  consideration,  it  may  be  noted 
again  that  tone  contrasts,  whether  between  two  back- 
ground areas,  between  a  decorative  object  and  its  back- 
ground, or  among  the  parts  of  a  single  unit,  ought  to 
be  clearly  perceptible  but  not  so  sharp  that  the  mind 
fails  to  perceive  as  well  the  elements  of  tone  likeness. 
A  room  in  which  the  tone  contrast  between  floor  and 
wall  or  wall  and  ceiling  is  too  slight,  is  in  general  only 
less  unpleasant  than  one  in  which  it  is  too  marked. 
In  the  one  case  there  is  an  effect  of  instability  and  lack 
of  poise ;  in  the  other,  of  abruptness  and  lack  of  suavity. 
In  order  to  enter  most  effectively  into  a  harmony  the 
three  background  surfaces,  whatever  their  hues,  should 
be  about  twenty-five  degrees,  or,  in  special  situations, 
twenty  or  even  fifteen  degrees  apart  in  tone.  Thus 
colors  having  the  luminosity  of  gray,  light  gray  and 
gray-white,  or  of  dark  gray,  gray  and  light  gray,  com- 
bine harmoniously  when  used  on  the  floor,  walls  and 
ceiling,  respectively.  Of  course  this  is  not  to  be  taken 
as  an  invariable  rule,  for  there  are  no  invariable  rules 
in  artistic  practice.  It  is  frequently  modified  widely  to 
suit  particular  requirements,  as  when  a  ceiling  is 
darkened  to  give  strength  or  repose  to  a  room,  or  when 
black  and  white  or  very  dark  and  very  light  are  used 
together  in  the  decoration  of  a  sun  room  or  some  other 

200 


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Light  and  Shade 

little-used  apartment  for  the  sake  of  vigor  or  brilliancy 
of  effect;  but  in  general  it  is  a  safe  guide  to  restful  and 
permanently  agreeable  results. 

In  the  secondary  contrasts  between  backgrounds  and 
ornamental  objects  the  two  tones  ought  not  in  general 
to  be  more  than  fifty  degrees  apart.  White,  for  exam- 
ple, emphasizes  the  effectiveness  of  gray.  Cream  white 
woodwork  sets  off  reseda  or  tan  walls  having  the 
luminosity  of  light  gray,  as  well  as  dark  reseda  or 
brown  rugs  of  the  luminosity  of  gray;  but  when  the 
contrasting  tones  are  farther  apart  than  white  and  gray 
— that  is,  more  than  fifty  degrees  on  our  scale — the 
effect  is  too  abrupt  for  repose  and  beauty.  The  com- 
bination of  black  and  white  is  very  hard,  and,  not- 
withstanding the  refreshing  quality  of  the  work  done 
by  Professor  Hoffman  and  other  European  decorators, 
black  and  white  rooms  are  too  harsh  for  common  use. 
Where  black  and  white  are  employed  in  the  same  com- 
position they  should  normally  be  separated  by  graduated 
intermediate  tones,  which  make  the  transition  by  per- 
ceptible degrees  of  likeness.  The  general  principle, 
governing  all  secondary  contrasts  of  tone,  as  well  as 
contrasts  of  hue,  line,  and  form,  is  that  the  vivacity 
of  a  decorative  treatment  increases  directly  with  the 
number  and  intensity  of  the  contrasts.  Sharper  tone 
contrasts  give  to  a  room  increased  snap  and  animation, 
up  to  the  point  where  unity  of  effect  is  lost,  and  com- 
plexity degenerates  into  confusion. 

The  decorator  must  not  only  arrange  his  light  and 
dark  color  values  in  an  orderly  arrangement  from  top 
to  bottom ;  he  must  also,  as  far  as  practicable,  so  group 

20 1 


The  Principles  of  Interior  Decoration 

the  furnishings  of  his  room  that  light  tones  are  put 
with  light,  and  dark  with  dark.  This  process  of  mass- 
ing, as  it  is  called  by  the  painters,  gives  when  skillfully 
carried  out  an  effect  of  spaciousness,  order  and  dignity 
quite  impossible  when  furniture,  hangings,  upholsteries, 
screens,  lamps  and  other  colored  objects  are  so  placed 
that  the  lights  and  darks  appear  in  small  sharply  con- 
trasting masses  and  much  divided.  The  hit-and-miss 
distribution  of  high  and  low  values  invariably  perplexes 
and  fatigues  the  eye  and  affects  the  mind  with  a  sense 
of  incoherence  and  disturbance,  and  the  effect  of 
spottiness  and  confused  activity  produced  by  the  con- 
trasts destroys  the  repose  of  the  room,  vulgarizes  its 
decorative  treatment,  and  robs  it  of  distinction  and 
charm. 

A  room  gains  in  distinction  and  charm  not  only  in 
the  degree  that  the  tones  are  so  massed  as  to  give 
breadth  rather  than  spottiness  of  effect,  but  also  in  the 
degree  that  the  illumination  both  by  day  and  by  night 
is  so  controlled  as  to  divide  the  room,  as  a  well-painted 
picture  is  divided,  into  areas  of  high  and  low  illumina- 
tion. Under  natural  light  this  effect  must  be  achieved 
through  a  carefully  studied  arrangement  of  curtains, 
shades  and  hangings,  and  at  night  through  a  careful 
choice  and  arrangement  of  lamps  with  their  shades. 
In  this,  as  in  other  questions  of  decorative  practice, 
principality  is  a  first  consideration.  There  must  not 
be  two  equal  areas  of  equal  intensity  of  illumination. 
One  area  must  be  either  larger  or  more  brightly  lighted 
than  the  other  or  others. 

In  planning  the  choice  and  arrangement  of  color  in 
202 


Light  and  Shade 

areas  of  low  illumination,  the  decorator  must  remember 
that  the  hues  do  not  lose  character  at  the  same  rate 
with  failing  light.  Red,  which  is  so  powerful  a  color 
in  full  light,  fades  into  gray  and  deadens  toward  black 
most  quickly,  followed  in  order  by  yellow  and  green, 
while  blue  retains  its  character  longest.  Thus  in  a 
multi-colored  composition  we  must  expect  to  find  the 
color  relations  characteristic  of  full  light  altered  per- 
ceptibly when  the  light  is  dimmed  by  shaded  lamps. 
The  warm  and  brilliant  hues  will  approach  dark  gray, 
while  the  cold  hues  will  be  changed  but  little. 

It  is  also  to  be  remembered  that,  even  with  modern 
electric  lamps,  there  is  a  considerable  difference  between 
natural  and  artificial  light,  and  that  accordingly  all 
colors  to  be  used  by  night  must  be  chosen  with  the 
modifications  likely  to  be  caused  by  artificial  light  in 
mind.  While  the  only  safe  way  is  to  try  the  actual 
fabric  to  be  used  under  the  lights  of  the  room  in  which 
it  is  to  be  used,  it  may  be  noted  as  a  general  guide  that 
all  colored  objects  tend  to  appear  black  if  lighted  only 
by  a  color  which  they  do  not  possess.  There  is  much 
yellow  and  very  little  blue  in  the  light  of  candles,  oil 
lamps  and  gas  jets,  and  for  that  reason,  while  red, 
orange  and  yellow  surfaces  illuminated  by  such  a  light 
will  be  changed  but  little,  blue  will  appear  either  green- 
ish or  blackish,  according  to  the  amount  of  green  or 
violet  in  it;  while  violet  will  appear  either  grayish  or 
reddish  brown,  according  to  the  amount  of  blue  or  red 
in  it. 

The  whole  matter  of  proper  illumination  is  of  the 
very  greatest  importance,  not  only  practically  but 

203 


The  Principles  of  Interior  Decoration 

artistically.  Both  the  comfort  and  the  beauty  of  our 
rooms  are  more  largely  dependent  upon  the  amount, 
character  and  distribution  of  the  light  than  most  of 
us  suspect.  However,  the  subject  is  too  large  for  treat- 
ment here,  and  the  student  must  look  to  other  sources — 
particularly  to  the  studies  of  Luckiesh,  which  are  avail- 
able in  every  library — for  a  more  complete  discussion. 
In  point  of  fact,  the  distribution  of  light  and  of  light 
and  dark  color  in  a  room  involves  so  many  factors 
which  are  peculiar  to  that  room  and  to  its  occupants 
that  the  happiest  results  can  usually  be  attained  only 
through  experiment.  The  decorator  must  often  ar- 
range and  rearrange  until  the  arrangement  finally 
satisfies.  The  difference  in  distinction  and  beauty 
between  a  perfect  and  a  mediocre  arrangement  is  so 
great  that  whatever  time  and  energy  is  spent  in  experi- 
ment will  be  richly  rewarded. 


304 


CHAPTER  XII 

THE  DOMINANT   HUE 

IN  a  study  of  this  character,  necessarily  brief  and 
necessarily  didactic  in  method,  it  is  difficult  to  say 
anything  at  all  without  saying  too  much.     This 
difficulty  is  especially  perplexing  in  the  matter  of 
color,  where  all  is  relative  and  nothing  absolute,  and 
where  every  rule  is  subject  to  numberless  exceptions. 
However,  we  have  at  least  a  fixed  point  of  departure, 
for  we  know  that  whatever  colors  are  used  in  the 
decoration  of  a  room,  and  however  they  are  used,  one 
among  them  must  be  dominant.     That  is,  one  hue  must 
seem  to  give  color  character  to  the  room,  to  make  the 
strongest  demand  upon  the  attention,  and  to  exercise 
the  strongest  influence  upon  the  emotions.     This  it  may 
do  through  superiority  either  in  area  or  in  intensity, 
or  in  both. 

A  hue  may  be  made  dominant  through  either  of  two 
general  methods,  which  will  be  studied  at  some  length 
in  the  chapter  on  color  harmony.  By  the  first  method 
it  is  made  a  constituent  of  most  of  the  other  colors 
by  a  process  of  infusion,  and  appears  on  all  the  prin- 
cipal surfaces  of  the  room  in  more  or  less  subtle  varia- 
tions. By  the  second  method  it  is  used  in  relatively 
pure  form  on  small  areas,  while  the  walls  and  ceiling 

205 


The  Principles  of  Interior  Decoration 

are  covered  with  grayed-out,  almost  neutral  tones, 
either  of  the  hue  itself  or  of  its  complementary.  Choice 
of  the  method  will  be  determined  in  practice  by  artistic 
considerations..  Choice  of  the  hue  will  be  determined 
by  practical  considerations  of  fitness  to  purpose. 
Among  these  considerations  the  four  of  chief  impor- 
tance are  (a)  the  purpose  or  character  of  the  room; 
(b)  the  nature  and  amount  of  the  light;  (c)  personal 
preference;  and  (d)  the  amount  of  money  available. 

Choice  of  the  dominant  hue  is  in  a  considerable 
measure  influenced  by  the  purpose  of  the  room.  Each 
decorative  treatment  ought,  as  we  have  seen,  to  be  built 
around  a  motive ;  and  while  the  motive  of  a  given  room 
must  be  expressed  through  the  convergent  power  of 
many  different  factors,  the  one  most  readily  available, 
most  easily  emphasized,  and  most  subtle  in  its  effect, 
is  the  power  of  hue. 

Of  course  purity  and  luminosity  are  factors  but  little 
less  important  than  hue  itself,  and  in  some  situations 
more  important.  Qualities  which  are  sober,  permanent 
and  inactive  are  expressed  in  some  degree  by  the  low 
values  of  any  hue,  as  those  which  are  gay,  sprightly  or 
transient  are  expressed  by  the  high  values.  In  careful 
work,  however,  the  decorator  must  add  to  the  power 
of  tone  the  peculiar  power  of  hue.  For  example,  in 
composition  both  pale  blue  and  pale  red  express  a 
measure  of  daintiness  as  well  as  a  measure  of  gayety; 
but  as  a  dominant  hue  there  is  in  pale  blue  a  suggestion 
of  reticence  and  fastidiousness  which  makes  it  pecu- 
liarly the  color  of  daintiness,  and  in  pink  an  ardent 
quality  which  makes  it  peculiarly  the  color  of  gayety 

206 


The  Dominant  Hue 

and  abandon.  This  by  no  means  implies  that  pale  blue 
must  always  be  used  to  express  daintiness,  but  only  the 
highest  degree  of  daintiness ;  as  dark  blue  must  be  used 
to  express  the  highest  degree  of  tranquillity,  or  pale 
yellow  to  express  the  highest  degree  of  animation  and 
buoyancy.  In  ordinary  situations  the  decorator  can 
produce  his  effects  in  any  one  of  several  different  ways, 
because  he  is  aiming  at  moderation.  As  the  degree  of 
emphasis  aimed  at  is  increased,  the  methods  by  which 
the  desired  effect  can  be  produced  are  correspondingly 
diminished,  and  when  the  extreme  emphasis  is  desired 
the  unique  means  through  which  it  can  be  produced 
must  be  employed. 

Red  may  be  made  to  concur,  as  the  dominant  hue, 
in  effects  of  warmth,  of  hospitality,  of  richness  and 
splendor,  and  of  excitement  and  activity.  Obviously 
it  is  a  poor  bedroom  color,  nor  can  it  often  be  used  as 
the  dominant  color  in  the  living  room.  It  is,  other 
considerations  permitting,  excellent  in  the  hall,  library 
or  dining  room. 

In  a  hall  not  too  brightly  lighted,  red  gives  a  fine 
atmosphere  of  warmth  and  dignified  welcome.  Where 
the  walls  are  paneled,  or  papered  with  a  stripe  or  a 
simple  diaper  pattern,  a  rich-red  figured  rug,  either  an 
Oriental  or  a  good  copy,  can  be  used  effectively  on  the 
floor,  while  the  red  of  its  ground  can  be  matched  in 
the  portieres  and  in  a  plain  or  self -toned  stair  runner. 
Where  the  walls  are  covered  with  a  damask  or  tapestry, 
or  papered  with  verdure,  landscape,  or  large-figured 
flock  or  duplex  paper,  a  self -toned  red  rug  will  ordi- 
narily be  better,  with  hangings  and  stair  runner  to 

207 


The  Principles  of  Interior  Decoration 

match.  Here  the  walls  can  be  almost  any  neutral, 
from  warm  gray  to  walnut.  The  strong,  rich  red  will 
bring  everything  in  the  room  under  its  dominance. 

While  we  know  that  the  library  is  used  at  all  seasons 
of  the  year,  and  in  many  houses  at  all  hours  of  the  day, 
most  of  us,  when  we  attempt  in  imagination  to  picture 
a  library,  see  it  on  a  winter's  night,  when  the  glow  of 
an  open  fire  plays  over  the  rug  and  reveals  the  shadowy 
outlines  of  the  bookcases  and  the  dim  folds  of  velvet 
draperies,  and  a  deep-shaded  lamp  throws  a  beam  of 
soft  light  over  the  arm  of  a  big  reading  chair.  And 
in  this  ideal  library  the  color  is  always  red — deep  red 
in  the  rug  and  hangings,  orange  and  vermilion  in  the 
flames,  rose-red  in  the  glow  of  the  lamp  shades,  old 
reds  in  bookbindings  and  hunting  prints. 

It  is  the  same  with  the  dining  room.  We  know  the 
soft  coolness  of  blue  and  silver,  the  restful  freshness 
of  reseda  and  ivory;  yet  when  we  think  of  the  ideal 
dinner — of  the  soft  lights,  the  hospitable  warmth,  the 
sparkle  of  crystal,  the  gleam  of  silver,  the  quick  talk 
and  gay  laughter  of  the  guests — we  think  of  red,  for 
the  color  is  indissolubly  bound  in  thought  with  the 
ideas  of  warmth,  richness,  hospitality  and  excitement. 

Here  we  have  to  do  with  the  question  of  tempera- 
ment. To  some  of  us  it  is  the  intensity  of  an  emotion 
that  counts,  not  its  duration,  and  life  is  chiefly  precious 
for  its  golden  hours.  To  others  the  ideal  state  is  the 
one  that  can  be  evenly  maintained,  and  a  decorative 
treatment  always  mildly  pleasing  is  better  than  one 
which,  however  perfect  for  its  hour  or  season,  is  less 
pleasing  for  a  great  part  of  the  time. 

208 


The  Dominant  Hue 

Present-day  practice  has  worked  out  a  method 
through  which  one  can  both  eat  his  cake  and  keep  it. 
The  character  of  a  red  dining  room  or  library  may  be 
changed  in  half  an  hour  by  covering  the  hangings  and 
chairs  with  slip  covers  of  cretonne,  and  by  this  simple 
and  inexpensive  device  the  room  may  be  adapted  alter- 
nately to  summer  and  winter  weather,  while  each 
change  by  contrast  gives  a  new  charm. 

Yellow  can  be  used  as  a  dominant  hue  in  any  room, 
though  it  seems  most  fitting  in  the  drawing  room  and 
breakfast  room,  and  least  fitting  in  the  bedroom.  The 
peculiar  excellence  of  yellow  lies  in  its  cheerful  and 
even  joyous  animation,  its  defect  in  an  impersonal 
quality  that  makes  it  difficult  to  use  in  any  apartment 
in  which  an  effect  of  intimacy  or  camaraderie  is  aimed 
at. 

Yellow  is  the  most  adaptable  of  all  the  colors.  It 
is  effective  in  all  values,  from  the  palest  cream  to  the 
darkest  yellow-brown,  and  is  equally  at  home  in  the 
cheapest  or  the  most  sumptuous  surroundings.  A 
drawing  room  may  be  done  in  paneled  and  painted  ivory 
walls,  old  Chinese  rugs,  yellow  damask  hangings,  satin- 
wood  and  lacquered  furniture  and  costly  bric-a-brac, 
as  a  living  room  may  be  done  in  yellow  calcimined  walls, 
Sundour  or  cretonne  hangings,  fumed  oak  and  willow 
furniture  and  inexpensive  bric-a-brac — provided,  of 
course,  that  the  things  are  good  in  line  and  color — and 
the  result  will  in  each  case  be  happy.  Where  yellow 
is  made  dominant  in  any  room  except  the  drawing  room 
or  breakfast  room,  the  choice  is  usually  determined  by 
some  other  consideration  than  the  purpose  of  the  room. 

209 


The  Principles  of  Interior  Decoration 

As  a  dominant  hue  blue  seems  best  adapted  by  nature 
to  the  bedroom,  and  least  adapted  to  the  breakfast  room. 
It  may  be  made  dominant  in  any  of  the  other  rooms, 
though  its  coldness  makes  it  a  somewhat  inhospitable 
color  for  the  hall.  As  with  yellow,  the  choice  of  blue 
is  ordinarily  based  upon  considerations  either  of  light- 
ing or  of  personal  preference.  It  must  always  be 
influenced  by  the  emotional  purpose  or  motive  of  the 
room,  whatever  its  practical  purpose  may  be.  Blue  is 
by  nature  suggestive  of  stillness  and  inactivity,  and  it 
tends  to  impart  these  qualities  to  any  decorative  treat- 
ment in  which  it  appears,  in  direct  proportion  to  its 
area  and  intensity.  Thus  it  will  concur,  as  the  dom- 
inant hue,  in  expressing  ideas  of  tranquillity,  repose, 
formality  and  elegance,  but  it  will  not  concur  in  the 
ideas  of  animation  and  gayety. 

Orange  is  most  pleasant  as  the  dominant  hue  when 
the  yellow  element  in  it  is  markedly  in  excess  of  the 
red.  The  browns  have  orange  as  a  base.  The  red 
browns,  produced  from  red-orange,  are  hot,  aggressive 
and  unmanageable  colors.  The  golden  browns,  on  the 
contrary,  have  something  of  the  cheerfulness  and  ani- 
mation of  yellow  and  something  of  the  warmth  and 
hospitality  of  red,  and  are  therefore  excellent  for 
living  room,  library  and  hall.  They  are  too  dead  for 
the  drawing  room,  and,  in  general,  too  lacking  in  indi- 
viduality and  force  for  the  dining  room. 

Where  violet — and  this  is  also  true  of  red-violet,  or 
purple — is  used  as  the  dominant  hue,  its  choice  will 
always  be  determined  by  personal  preference  rather 
than  by  any  innate  fitness  for  a  particular  room.  Violet 

210 


The  Dominant  Hue 

will  concur  in  effects  of  repose,  dignity  and  elegance, 
and,  in  the  higher  values,  of  reticence  and  daintiness. 
Purple  will  concur  in  effects  of  dignity,  sumptuousness 
and  splendor.  Its  subdued  warmth  and  subtle  emo- 
tional qualities  give  it  great  value  and  distinction  in 
decorative  work,  but  it  must  be  used  only  by  those 
who  like  it. 

Green  may  be  made  the  dominant  hue  in  any  room 
where  its  quality  of  restful  coolness  is  desired.  Gray- 
greens  and  the  broken  tones  of  yellow-green  are  pleas- 
antly suggestive  of  verdure  and  of  nature  in  her  softer 
moods.  Green  is,  however,  an  earthy  color,  and  its 
calmness  has  little  of  the  spiritual  quality  of  blue.  The 
greens  vary  widely  in  character  and  emotional  value 
as  they  pass  from  somber  blue-green  to  sunny  yellow- 
green,  and  as  they  change  in  value  from  dark  to  light. 
Moreover,  they  vary  surprisingly  in  pleasantness,  not 
only  with  purity  but  also  with  the  texture  in  which  they 
appear  and  the  light  under  which  they  are  seen.  Some 
green  textiles  are  hopelessly  commonplace  and  uninter- 
esting. On  the  other  hand,  many  of  the  greens  to  be 
found  in  fine  velvets  and  deep-pile  rugs  possess  a 
distinction  and  charm  not  surpassed  by  any  color  and 
approached  by  few.  The  normal  hue  is  unpleasant  and, 
far  from  being  restful,  has  an  irritating  quality,  more 
potent  to  exhaust  nervous  energy  than  any  other  hue. 

Color  must  be  used  to  supplement  or  correct  nature 
in  making  our  rooms  warm  and  sunny  or  cool  and  dim. 
Hence  the  choice  of  the  dominant  hue  is  often  con- 
ditioned by  the  nature  and  amount  of  light  received 
by  the  room  to  be  decorated.  If  the  light  is  deficient 

211 


The  Principles  of  Interior  Decoration 

in  quantity  it  must  be  conserved  and  diffused  through 
the  use,  not  only  of  high  values,  but  also  of  hues  pos- 
sessing a  high  degree  of  luminosity.  If  it  is  deficient 
in  warmth  and  brightness  these  qualities  must  be  sup- 
plied by  warm  and  bright  colors.  If  it  is  hot  or  over- 
bright  these  defects  must  be  remedied  by  cool  and 
relatively  non-luminous  colors.  The  luminosity  of  the 
spectrum  hues  was  discussed  in  the  chapter  on  light  and 
shade.  It  remains  here  to  discuss  their  relative  warmth. 
Red  is  the  warmest  color  and  blue  the  coldest,  with 
orange,  yellow  and  green  between  them  on  one  side  of 
the  chromatic  circle  and  purple  and  violet  on  the  other 
side.  Rooms  with  a  north  light  require  relatively 
warm  coloring,  and  rooms  with  a  south  light  relatively 
cool;  and  as  a  general  but  by  no  means  an  invariable 
rule  one  of  the  warm  colors  will  be  made  dominant 
in  a  north  or  northeast  room,  and  one  of  the  cool 
colors  in  a  south  or  southwest  room.  It  is  to  be  noted, 
however,  that,  while  very  sunny  rooms  require  cool 
colors,  they  are  most  pleasant  when  light  tones  of  those 
colors  are  employed.  Light  blues  and  greens  temper 
and  cool  an  over-sunny  room ;  dark,  cold  tones  of  those 
hues  would  destroy  the  character  of  the  room,  being 
markedly  inconsistent  with  its  light,  sunny  and  some- 
what gay  nature.  On  the  other  hand,  north  rooms  are 
in  general  most  pleasant  with  darker  tones  of  the 
warm  hues,  for  the  same  reasons  of  congruity.  Of 
course  this  does  not  mean  that  light,  cool  colors  only 
are  to  be  used  in  sunny  rooms,  or  dark,  warm  colors 
only  in  north  rooms.  It  means  simply  that  the  dom- 
inant hues  and  tones  must  vary  with  the  light,  subject 

212 


The  Dominant  Hue 

to  the  general  requirement  of  congruity  that  the  tone 
of  all  colors  will  be  progressively  lowered  with  the 
increasing  size  of  the  room.  Neutral  gray  has  no 
place  in  north  rooms.  Where  there  is  plenty  of  north 
light,  a  very  warm  gray — say  a  light  sand — can  be 
used  on  the  walls  in  conjunction  with  rugs,  hangings, 
upholstery  stuffs  and  accessories  in  which  red,  rose, 
orange  or  golden  yellows  are  emphasized;  but  where 
there  is  only  a  little  north  light  the  room  must  have 
yellow.  As  an  extreme  instance  we  may  take  a  dining 
room  on  the  north  side  of  a  house  shut  in  by  hills  and 
trees.  Such  a  room,  if  small,  could  be  treated  with 
cream  paneled  walls  and  trim,  a  plain  or  self -tone  rose- 
red  rug,  and  chintz  hangings  containing  rose-reds,  blues 
and  corn-yellows  on  a  cream  ground;  or,  if  larger  and 
more  imposing,  with  black  lacquered  woodwork,  soft 
yellow  damask  or  grass-cloth  walls,  an  orange-gold 
plain  rug,  and  hangings  of  brocade  in  colors  ranging 
from  orange-red  to  the  yellow  of  the  walls. 

Warm-colored  walls  are  more  agreeable  to  many 
people  than  cool,  more  becoming  to  many  complexions, 
and  more  sympathetic  backgrounds  for  other  furnish- 
ings. For  these  reasons  it  is  often  wise  to  use  cream 
or  warm  gray  walls  in  a  room  where  the  dominant  hue 
must  be  cold,  rather  than  to  put  a  light  tone  of  the  hue 
itself  on  the  walls.  Thus  when  yellow  of  the  required 
tone  is  almost  but  not  perfectly  neutralized  by  its 
complementary  violet,  the  resulting  gray  makes  a  better 
wall  for  a  dominant  violet  or  plum  than  would  a  violet- 
gray  of  the  same  tone. 

Choice  of  the  dominant  hue  is  often  conditioned,  or 
213 


The  Principles  of  Interior  Decoration 

at  least  influenced,  by  the  size  of  the  room.  Tones  of 
all  the  hues  appear  to  advance  or  retreat,  according  to 
the  amount  of  white  light  in  them.  "The  whole  room 
expands  or  dwindles,"  observed  Professor  James, 
"according  as  we  raise  or  lower  the  gas  jet."  In  addi- 
tion to  this  very  important  consideration,  the  decorator 
must  be  governed  by  the  fact,  already  noted,  that  the 
hues  differ  notably  in  their  power  to  cause  surfaces 
covered  with  them  to  appear  to  advance  or  retreat. 
Owing  to  the  peculiar  construction  of  the  eye,  the  red 
rays  from  a  given  stimulus  first  affect  the  eye,  followed 
by  the  other  hues  in  the  order  of  their  warmth.  For 
this  reason  the  warm  colors  appear  to  bring  in  the  walls 
of  a  room,  while  the  cool  colors  appear  to  push  them 
back.  This  power  of  hue  was  flatly  denied  by  Ruskin, 
but  it  has  been  confirmed  and  explained  by  science  since 
his  day,  and  it  is  of  course  a  matter  of  common  obser- 
vation. Parsons  cites  the  interesting  fact  that  a  jury 
of  six  men,  called  upon  to  estimate  the  size  of  identical 
rooms,  one  colored  throughout  in  spectral  red  and  the 
other  in  light  clear  blue,  judged  the  latter  to  be  more 
than  thirty  per  cent  larger  than  the  former.  Even 
where  mixed  and  relatively  neutral  walls  are  used,  a 
room  will  vary  perceptibly  in  apparent  size  with  warm 
or  cool  color.  This  fact  presents  no  difficulty  to  the 
decorator  except  in  the  case  of  small  north  rooms, 
which  must  be  made  warmer  without  being  made 
smaller.  Here  he  may  resort  to  ivory  walls  and 
trim  and  a  rose-red  or  yellow  carpet,  plain  or  self -toned, 
and  covering  the  entire  floor,  since  a  rug  would  make 
the  room  look  smaller  by  reason  of  the  disposition  of 

214 


The  Dominant  Hue 

the  eye  to  see  the  inner  rather  than  the  outer  lines  of 
the  space;  to  light  yellowish-gray  walls  with  orange, 
and  so  on.  Any  north  or  coldly-lighted  room  may 
be  made  to  appear  warmer  by  the  presence  of  growing 
plants  and  flowers,  as  the  mind  always  associates  the 
idea  of  warmth  with  growing  things. 

Inasmuch  as  color  is  used  in  the  house  chiefly  to  give 
pleasure  to  its  occupants,  it  is  clear  that,  when  other 
factors  permit,  personal  taste  or  preference  should 
determine  the  choice  of  the  dominant  hue.  It  is  of 
course  to  be  remembered  that  here,  as  elsewhere  in 
decorative  practice,  personal  fancy  may  be  given  a  freer 
flight  in  the  bedroom,  boudoir,  sewing  room  or  study 
than  in  rooms  shared  in  common,  where  compromises 
are  often  necessary. 

A  favorite  color  may  be  used  on  the  walls  in  a 
degree  of  intensity  ranging  up  to  the  maximum  of  one- 
half  in  cases  where  one  is  satisfied  with  the  compara- 
tively weak  emotional  reactions  which  relatively  neutral 
color  is  capable  of  producing.  Where  the  full  emo- 
tional effect  of  a  favorite  color  is  desired,  the  purer 
color  must  be  spotted  in  against  almost  neutral  walls. 
The  peculiar  qualities  of  any  hue  tend  to  disappear, 
as  we  have  seen,  as  the  hue  loses  purity.  No  one  who 
craves  a  rich,  vibrant  red  will  be  satisfied  with  a  reddish 
gray  or  a  washed-out  rose  or  pink,  nor  will  he  accept 
azure  as  a  substitute  for  blue,  or  pale  heliotrope  in  lieu 
of  purple.  The  strong  colors  must,  however,  be  kept 
off  the  walls.  They  may  be  used,  if  not  too  pure,  on 
the  floor,  and  even  in  the  hangings  and  upholstery;  but 
when  they  are  used  at  all  it  will  ordinarily  be  best 

215 


The  Principles  of  Interior  Decoration 

to  do  the  walls  in  some  neutral,  like  cream,  tan,  putty, 
light  taupe,  or  greenish-gray.  It  is  a  common  mistake 
to  assume  that  the  stimulating  or  satisfying  power  of 
a  favorite  color  depends  upon  the  area  of  the  surfaces 
over  which  it  is  distributed.  In  fact,  it  rather  varies 
inversely  with  the  area,  and  depends  far  more  upon  the 
intensity  and  quality  of  the  color,  and  the  texture  in 
which  it  appears,  than  upon  extension  in  space.  A 
single  ruby-red  porcelain  bowl  against  a  cream  or  gray- 
green  wall  will  have  more  power  to  satisfy  a  real 
craving  for  red  than  will  a  room  done  in  crimson  rugs, 
walls,  and  hangings. 

Always  in  choosing  the  dominant  hue  care  must  be 
taken  to  select  one  that  is  becoming.  Few  women  have 
an  adequate  conception  of  the  degree  in  which  their 
looks  are  affected  by  the  colors  of  their  rooms.  We 
have  already  noted  that  the  effect  of  ground  color  upon 
local  color  is  often  extraordinary,  and  it  must  always 
be  remembered  that  the  colors  of  floor,  hangings  and 
furniture  coverings,  and  especially  of  the  walls,  are 
certain  to  affect  for  good  or  ill  the  colors  of  com- 
plexion, hair  and  costume.  A  woman  who  is  too  dark, 
for  example,  ought  to  do  her  room  in  low  tones,  since 
the  effect  of  white  woodwork  and  pale  walls  will  in- 
evitably be  to  make  her  appear  still  darker.  Similarly, 
a  sallow  complexion  will  appear  more  yellowish  in  a 
lavender  room,  because  the  violet  will  tinge  the  face 
with  its  complementary ;  while  the  woman  who  has  too 
much  color  will  find  the  red  in  her  cheeks  intensified 
and  given  a  purplish  cast  in  a  room  done  in  yellowish- 
green. 

216 


The  Dominant  Hue 

Readers  of  Locke's  novel,  "The  Glory  of  Clemen- 
tina," will  recall  an  amusing  instance — freely  adapted, 
no  doubt,  from  the  historical  incident  of  Napoleon's 
sister — of  the  effective  use  of  color  in  the  dinner  scene. 
Here  Clementina  Wing,  a  great  artist  but  a  jealous 
woman,  devised  a  wonderful  scheme  of  table  decora- 
tions in  black  and  gold,  amber  and  iris,  which  perfectly 
set  off  the  beauty  of  her  own  complexion  and  costume, 
and  at  the  same  time  sent  into  total  eclipse  a  dangerous 
rival  whose  pale  complexion,  chestnut  hair  and  lavender 
gown  could  not  stand  contact  with  the  rich,  strong 
colors.  Most  women  are  happily  under  no  necessity 
for  waging  such  merciless  warfare,  but  every  one  is 
properly  disposed  to  make  the  most  of  such  gifts  as 
the  gods  have  vouchsafed.  One  of  the  agents  always 
at  her  command  is  the  wise  use  of  background  color. 
Many  a  woman  who  cannot  understand  why  she  fails 
to  look  her  best  at  her  own  dinner  table  will  find  the 
answer  in  the  walls  behind  her  back. 

The  painter  produces  his  color  effects  with  paints, 
of  which  one  hue  costs  little  more  than  another.  The 
decorator,  on  the  other  hand,  produces  his  color  effects 
with  textiles  and  other  materials,  of  which  some  are 
enormously  more  expensive  than  others.  For  this 
reason  the  amount  of  money  available  for  the  decora- 
tion of  a  given  room  is  often  an  important  factor  in 
determining,  or  at  least  in  limiting,  the  choice  of  the 
dominant  hue.  In  the  first  place,  many  of  the  more 
subtle  and  beautiful  colors  can  be  found  only  in  costly 
pile  fabrics  or  damasks.  In  the  case  of  floor  coverings, 
many  of  these  colors  are  never  to  be  found  in  stock 

217 


The  Principles  of  Interior  Decoration 

at  all,  and  they  can  be  used  by  the  decorator  only  when 
there  is  both  money  and  time  to  have  rugs  specially 
woven  to  order.  Such  colors  as  jade,  reseda  and  vert 
antique  among  the  greens,  or  apricot,  copper  and  rose- 
red  among  the  reds,  are  ordinarily  confined  to  specially 
made  and  costly  rugs  and  plain  carpets.  If  they  are 
stocked  at  all  it  will  be  only  in  weaves  too  expensive 
for  use  in  ordinary  homes. 

Moreover,  some  colors  look  well  in  cheap  materials, 
while  others  do  not.  For  example,  calcimine  colors, 
which  are  very  much  cheaper  than  either  canvas  and 
oil  paint  or  good  wall  paper,  are  pleasing  in  practically 
all  the  variants  of  yellow;  but  they  are  unpleasing  in 
the  variants  of  red  and  blue,  including  pink,  rose, 
lavender,  heliotrope,  azure,  and  the  soft,  light  blue- 
greens.  Pale  tints  of  blue  or  red  are  of  questionable 
value  as  wall  colors  in  any  material,  since  pink  keys 
up  the  nerves,  while  pale  blue  is  associated  in  the  mind 
with  the  idea  of  illimitable  spaces,  whereas  the  very 
nature  of  a  wall  is  to  be  fixed  and  confining.  If,  how- 
ever, these  colors  are  insisted  upon  for  wall  use,  they 
must  be  employed  in  materials  richer  in  appearance  than 
calcimine. 

In  cheap  textiles  of  all  kinds  pale  tints  of  red,  blue 
and  violet  are  likely  to  be  difficult  to  find  and  totally 
lacking  in  distinction,  while  the  colors  themselves  fade 
quickly.  Exception  to  this  latter  statement  must  be 
made  in  favor  of  the  so-called  Sundour  or  Sun- fast 
drapery  stuffs,  which  are  warranted  to  be  fast  to  light. 
Few  of  these  fabrics,  however,  have  in  the  less  expen- 
sive qualities  any  marked  beauty  of  texture,  and  all 

218 


-M     rt 


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"^  <u  C  r^n  ex 

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'S  a^rg  « 
xi  o  .  *j 
P  "^  S  °"" 
V  O  H 


C  J5 

rt.ti> 
C  eo 


The  Dominant  Hue 

have  the  serious  defect  of  losing  such  beauty  as  they 
may  possess  when  held  against  the  light,  which  is  of 
course  precisely  where  draperies  have  to  appear  during 
the  daytime.  It  may  be  noted  that  when  these  fabrics 
are  made  up  without  lining  they  must  have  ample  full- 
ness, so  that  the  folds  will  help  to  shut  out  the  glare  of 
light  and  thus  to  enrich  the  texture  as  seen  from  the 
room. 

As  a  general  rule,  it  may  be  said  that  in  cheap  textiles 
of  medium  tone  the  variants  of  yellow  or  orange  are  the 
richest  and  most  satisfying.  Red  appears  to  advantage 
only  in  relatively  expensive  materials,  and  the  same  is 
true  in  less  degree  of  violet  and  blue.  In  most  inex- 
pensive fabrics  the  tints  of  a  hue  are  more  pleasing, 
though  less  stable,  than  its  shades. 

It  is  a  characteristic  of  many  housewives  that  they 
are  unwilling  to  recognize  the  fact  that  certain  color 
schemes  can  be  worked  out  successfully  only  in  costly 
materials,  and  that  when  such  materials  are  too  expen- 
sive another  treatment  must  be  substituted.  Many  of 
the  very  charming  color  schemes  described  in  books  or 
magazines  were  carried  out  in  materials  unavailable  to 
the  one  who  tries  to  copy  or  adapt  them  to  her  own 
home,  and  the  use  of  cheaper  substitutes  can  result  only 
in  disappointment.  It  is  far  easier  to-day  than  it  was 
a  decade  or  two  ago  to  give  a  room  beauty  of  coloring 
through  the  use  of  relatively  inexpensive  materials, 
if  one  is  willing  to  modify  the  scheme  to  fit  the  mate- 
rials. The  wise  housewife  will  accordingly  recognize 
the  fatuity  of  trying  to  make  gilt  do  the  work  of  gold, 
and  employ  her  ingenuity  and  taste  in  making  her  home 

219 


The  Principles  of  Interior  Decoration 

attractive  with  such  things  as  she  can  afford  to  pay 
for. 

In  conclusion,  it  is  to  be  remembered  that  the  colors 
have  certain  psycho-physical  properties,  and  that  in  the 
case  of  invalids  and  persons  suffering  from  nervous 
disorders  these  properties  will  influence  and  often  deter- 
mine the  choice  of  the  dominant  hue.  The  red-yellow- 
orange  end  of  the  spectrum  is  warm  and  active,  while 
the  blue-violet  end  is  cold  and  passive.  People  nor- 
mally feel  aggressive  and  inclined  to  vigorous  action 
when  surrounded  by  red,  and  passive,  with  a  tendency 
toward  depression,  when  surrounded  by  blue.  In  the 
language  of  the  laboratory,  the  warm  colors  are  dyna- 
mogenic  in  their  effect.  They  tend  to  develop  nervous 
energies  and  to  intensify  those  already  under  way,  while 
those  of  the  blue  end  tend  to  reduce  or  to  inhibit  such 
energies. 


220 


CHAPTER  XIII 

COLOR    HARMONY 

WE  become  aware  of  beauty  in  a  color  com- 
position through   the  easy  perception  of 
likenesses  among  its  diverse  elements.    In 
this  process  the  mind,  following  its  nor- 
mal method  of  thinking  from  the  particular  to  the  gen- 
eral, passes  from  perception  of  the  variety  of  color 
stimuli  to  apprehension  of  their  essential  unity.    In  the 
attempt  to  create  beauty  in  a  color  treatment,  however, 
this  process  is  reversed.    We  begin  by  insuring  unity 
through  the  choice  and  distribution  of  a  dominant  hue, 
and  then  proceed  to  add  the  variety  of  hue  and  tone 
necessary  to  beauty. 

In  one  sense  this  is  an  easy,  simple,  almost  a  mechan- 
ical process.  We  already  know,  through  study  of  the 
chromatic  circle,  how  the  various  hues  are  related.  We 
know  that  the  color  on  either  side  of  the  dominant  hue 
is  half  like  and  half  unlike  it,  and  therefore  sure  to 
yield  a  measure  both  of  unity  and  diversity  if  used  with 
it;  and  that  its  complementary,  lying  directly  opposite 
on  the  circle,  is  wholly  unlike  it  and  therefore  certain 
to  add  to  the  effect  of  diversity.  We  know  that  the 
color  values  must  be  arranged  in  an  ascending  scale 
from  relatively  dark  on  the  floor  to  relatively  light  on 

221 


The  Principles  of  Interior  Decoration 

the  ceiling ;  that  the  walls  and  ceiling  must  be  relatively 
neutral,  whatever  their  hue,  while  somewhat  purer 
color  may  be  used  on  the  floor  and  in  hangings  and 
furniture  coverings ;  that  pure  or  almost  pure  color  can 
be  used  only  for  accent  and  in  very  small  areas;  that 
in  general  the  purity  of  a  color  will  vary  inversely  with 
its  area ;  and  that  while  contrasts  of  hue,  intensity  and 
tone  are  required  to  give  diversity  and  make  beauty 
possible,  not  more  than  two  of  these  factors  ought  to 
appear  in  any  given  contrast,  while  one  is  sufficient 
for  many  of  them.  Equipped  with  this  knowledge, 
we  can  start  with  any  hue  approved  by  our  judgment 
as  a  fitting  dominant  hue  and  build  up.  a  color  scheme 
free  from  serious  dissonances,  revealing  unity  in  diver- 
sity, and  therefore,  in  some  measure,  beauty. 

In  fact,  we  can,  even  with  our  present  knowledge, 
go  further  than  this;  for  we  understand  the  emotional 
values  of  the  various  hues,  of  pure  and  neutral  colors, 
of  light  and  dark  tones,  and  can  accordingly  proceed  at 
once  to  the  expression  of  ideas,  which  is  the  only  thing 
that  gives  interior  decoration  dignity  and  standing 
among  the  other  creative  arts.  Finally,  we  recognize 
the  importance  of  expressing  these  ideas  through  con- 
vergent effects,  in  which  line,  form,  texture,  proportion, 
balance  and  light  supplement  and  confirm  hue,  intensity 
and  tone,  and  we  know  a  little  of  the  technique  through 
which  these  convergences  are  produced. 

This  much,  and  a  little  more,  it  is  easy  to  teach  and 
to  learn.  Beyond  this  little  more  the  use  of  color  can- 
not be  taught.  Instruction  can  lay  down  a  few  broad 
principles,  or  guides  to  practice,  and  through  study  of 

222 


Color  Harmony 

these  principles  the  beginner  in  the  art  can  learn  to 
avoid  serious  mistakes  and  to  work  out  pleasing  though 
simple  harmonies  for  any  dominant  hue,  just  as  the 
beginner  in  music,  through  study  of  the  principles  of 
counterpoint  and  musical  progression,  can  learn  to 
avoid  dissonances  and  to  work  out  pleasing  though 
simple  harmonies  for  any  melody.  But  the  subtle  or 
invigorating  harmonies  that  soothe  or  stir  the  soul 
demand  for  their  creation  in  either  art  an  imaginative 
power  and  a  mastery  of  technique  not  to  be  acquired  by 
reading  a  book,  or  a  multitude  of  books.  The  brief 
and  tentative  discussion  of  color  harmony  here  included 
is  offered  as  a  guide  to  further  study,  and  particularly 
to  experiment  and  practice.  We  must  use  color  in  our 
rooms.  Hence  we  must  create  color  arrangements, 
whether  pleasant  or  unpleasant.  Accordingly  any  ex- 
position of  the  subject,  however  limited  in  value,  seems 
justified  if  it  can  help  toward  pleasing  arrangements, 
however  simple. 

When  the  decorator,  as  a  result  of  his  study  of  all 
the  considerations  of  fitness  involved,  decides  upon 
the  dominant  hue  for  a  given  room  and  sets  about  the 
production  of  a  color  harmony,  his  problem  is  four- 
fold. He  must  (a)  select  hues  which  are  pleasing 
together;  (b)  distribute  these  hues,  both  as  to  area 
and  position,  so  that  the  total  effect  is  pleasing;  (c) 
distribute  all  the  colors,  whatever  their  hue,  with  refer- 
ence to  their  luminosity  or  value,  in  such  a  way  that 
the  tonality,  or  total  effect  of  light  and  shade  in  the 
room,  is  pleasing;  and  (d)  distribute  the  hues  with 
reference  to  their  purity  or  intensity  in  such  a  way 

223 


The  Principles  of  Interior  Decoration 

that  a  balance  is  struck,  pleasing  in  itself  and  consistent 
with  the  motive  of  the  room,  between  the  forcefulness 
and  obvious  quality  of  pure  color  and  the  passivity  and 
subtlety  of  neutral  color. 

We  find  that  hues  which  are  pleasing  together  may 
be  selected  through  variations  of  any  one  of  three 
general  methods,  which  result  in  three  general  classes 
or  types  of  "color  harmonies,  known  as  (a)  harmonies 
of  analogy;  (b)  harmonies  of  complementaries,  or 
contrast;  and  (c)  triads  or  trichromatic  harmonies. 
These  methods  will  perhaps  appear  most  clear  if  they 
are  described  and  exemplified  in  terms  of  the  same 
dominant  hue.  Any  hue  on  the  warm  side  of  the 
chromatic  circle  would  do  for  this  purpose,  but  we  will 
take  yellow-orange,  because  of  its  peculiar  fitness  for 
use  under  widely  varying  conditions.  It  is,  in  the  first 
place,  a  color  which  can  be  used  effectively  in  all  three 
types  of  harmonies.  It  can  in  practice  be  used  effec- 
tively in  either  cheap  or  costly  schemes  of  furnishing. 
It  is  agreeable  and  becoming  to  most  people,  and  it 
can  be  used  fittingly  in  the  hall,  living  room,  drawing 
room,  dining  room,  breakfast  room,  and  even  in  the 
bedroom.  The  hue  varies,  according  to  the  amounts 
of  black  and  white  in  it,  from  dark  golden  brown  to 
old  ivory.  It  is  intimately  related  to  yellow  on  one 
side  and  to  orange  on  the  other,  and  more  remotely 
related  to  green  and  to  red.  It  is  in  strong  contrast 
to  blue  and  to  violet,  and  complementary  to  blue-violet. 

It  is  clear  that  the  easiest  way  to  give  variety  in  color 
to  a  room  done  in  yellow-orange  is  to  keep  the  hue 
constant  and  vary  the  tones  in  a  close  harmony,  as  in 

224 


Color  Harmony 

the  use  of  a  rich  golden  brown  carpet  and  hangings, 
light  golden  brown  walls,  tan  ceiling,  nut-brown  wood- 
work and  furniture,  and  ecru  curtains.  Such  a  room 
will  possess  the  virtues  of  unity  and  repose,  but  it  will 
also  reveal  the  fatal  vice  of  monotony.  Even  if  its 
monotony  be  relieved  by  small  color  accents  in  pictures, 
pottery,  lamps,  books  and  cushions,  the  room  will  still 
be  likely  to  have  three  serious  faults.  First,  its  back- 
ground surfaces,  being  all  alike  except  for  variations  in 
tone,  constantly  employ  the  same  color  nerves,  giving 
them  no  opportunity  for  the  intervals  of  rest  that  we 
have  seen  to  be  essential  to  clear  and  pleasurable  color 
perception.  Secondly,  the  contrasts  between  adjacent 
surfaces  will  cause  the  lower  and  richer  tones  of  the 
carpet  to  take  the  life  out  of  the  wall  color.  Finally, 
there  is  in  fact  too  little  diversity  in  the  treatment  to 
be  pleasant  to  normal  people  throughout  a  long  period 
of  time. 

The  next  step  in  increasing  the  diversity  and  interest 
of  the  color  treatment  is  to  add  the  extreme  red  and 
yellow  hues  of  orange,  and  to  bring  in  sharper  accents 
of  color,  as  in  the  substitution  of  old  gold,  burnt  orange 
or  henna  for  some  of  the  brown  areas  in  hangings,  lamp 
shades,  cushions,  or  upholstery  fabrics. 

The  third  step  is  to  include  both  red  and  yellow, 
colors  which  lie  on  either  side  of  the  dominant  hue  and 
share  in  its  composition.  Thus  we  could  do  a  library 
in  walnut  or  fumed  oak  woodwork  and  furniture, 
golden-yellow  grasscloth  walls,  old  ivory  ceiling, 
orange-red  Khiva  or  chenille  rug,  brocade  hangings 
of  old  gold  and  orange  red,  porcelain  lamps  in  old 

225 


The  Principles  of  Interior  Decoration 


Blue 


B-G 


Chinese  yellow,  with  maize  silk  shades,  and  sunny  or 
ruddy-hued  pictures  framed  in  antique  gold ;  or  a  dining 

room  in  paneled  walls 
of  Italian  walnut, 
modeled  plaster  ceil- 
ing in  antique  ivory, 
carved  walnut  furni- 
ture, henna  or  Vene- 
tian red  carpet,  dull 
orange  taffeta  under- 
curtains,  and  hangings 
and  furniture  cover- 
ings of  old  red  and 
gold  damask. 

If,  however,  we  do 
not  like  red,  or  con- 
sider that  its  use 
would  make  our  room 
too  warm,  it  is  equally 
easy  to  turn  in  the 
other  direction  on  the 
chromatic  circle  to 
yellow-green,  which  is 

elude"  both  red  and  yellow;  D-D',  related  to  yellow- 
arc  widened  to  include  both  red  and  orange  by  the  common 
green — provided,  however,  that  both  .  ,  ,,  ,-,,, 

are  keyed  to  yellow,  as  Venetian  red  strain  ot  yellow.  1  hus 
and  olive  green.  olive,  a  tawny,  yellow- 

ish-brownish      green, 

may  be  substituted  for  the  golden  brown  of  the  carpet 
in  the  room  first  described,  as  olive  edged  with  old  gold, 
olive  and  gold,  or  old  gold  edged  with  olive,  may  be 

226 


FIGURE  44. — Starting  from  a  sin- 
gle hue  the  arc  of  the  chromatic 
circle  included  in  harmonies  of  an- 
alogy can  be  progressively  widened 
until  almost  all  of  a  half-circle  is 
included.  A-A',  narrowest  interval, 
employing  one  hue  only;  B-B',  arc 
widened  to  extreme  variants  of 


Color  Harmony 

substituted  for  the  hangings.  This  would  give  us  a 
room  in  which  the  principal  areas  were  as  far  apart  as 
yellow-orange  and  yellow-green,  while  the  gamut  of 
related  colors  may  be  further  extended  in  either  direc- 
tion in  the  accents  and  small  masses.  A  little  blue- 
green,  for  example,  combined  with  olive  and  mode, 
could  be  used  in  tapestry  furniture  coverings,  while  old 
red  could  be  introduced  in  pictures,  potteries,  or  book 
bindings. 

These  harmonies  differ  in  diversity  and  animation, 
but  all  are  alike  in  that  they  are  related  by  ties  of 
common  blood.  Similar  analogous  harmonies  may  in 
theory  be  built  upon  tones  of  any  hue  or  gamut  of 
related  hues,  but  in  practice  they  are  restricted  to 
gamuts  in  which  the  warm  hues  play  a  large  if  not  a 
preponderant  part.  Thus  we  may  have  analogous  har- 
monies built  up  of  hues  lying  between  red  and  blue- 
green  on  the  warm  side  of  the  circle.  Between  red  and 
blue-green  on  the  other  side  of  the  circle  the  colors  are 
too  cold  to  be  agreeable  in  harmonies  of  analogy;  so  far, 
at  least,  as  the  larger  areas  of  interior  decoration  are 
concerned. 

Harmonies  of  this  character  are  the  easiest  to  pro- 
duce, since  their  creation  does  not  necessitate  the  pos- 
session of  a  flair  for  color  or  a  highly  cultivated  taste, 
but  only  common  sense  and  freedom  from  color  blind- 
ness. Harmonies  of  analogy  are  also  quiet,  restful 
and  subtle.  Through  the  absence  of  that  sense  of 
activity  which  results  from  strong  color  contrasts,  these 
harmonies  not  only  make  a  room  more  reposeful  but 
more  spacious,  and  are  therefore  in  general  to  be  chosen 

227 


The  Principles  of  Interior  Decoration 

for  rooms  which  seem  small  or  overcrowded  with  furni- 
ture, as  well  as  for  those  wherein  repose  is  the  first 
consideration.  Moreover,  since  the  colors  employed 
are  markedly  alike  in  emotional  effect,  harmonies  of 
analogy  must  always  be  employed  in  rooms  which  are 
to  be  invested  in  the  maximum  degree  with  a  particular 
emotional  quality — that  is,  in  rooms  in  which  what 
is  known  in  the  studios  as  the  temperamental  idea  is  to 
be  expressed.  The  highest  beauty  of  analogous  har- 
monies depends  upon  perfect  keying,  or  infusion  of 
the  dominant  hue  into  all  the  subordinate  hues  in  such 
a  way  as  to  give  an  effect  of  atmospheric  coloring,  as 
if  the  room  were  seen  through  a  delicately  tinted  glass. 
It  is,  of  course,  clear  that  the  atmospheric  effects  char- 
acteristic of  perfect  coloring  are  difficult  for  the  begin- 
ner to  manage.  They  can  in  fact  be  produced  only 
when  broken  and  grayish  tones  of  the  hues  employed 
are  used  skillfully.  Thus  in  the  room  last  described  the 
old  red  and  the  olive  appear  much  as  vermilion  and 
emerald  would  appear  if  seen  through  a  haze  of  gray- 
ish yellow,  and  even  the  blue-green  of  the  tapestry 
must  be  sufficiently  broken  with  gray  to  make  it  look 
like  a  dull  blue  seen  through  this  same  gray-yellow 
haze. 

All  harmonies  of  this  class,  as  described  above,  reveal 
a  characteristic  lack  of  snap,  and  none  would  be  ac- 
cepted by  the  mind  as  wholly  satisfying.  This  defect  is 
due  to  the  total  absence  of  the  complementary  of  the 
dominant  hue,  which  ought  to  be  made  to  appear  in 
some  form,  however  unimportant,  in  every  color 
scheme.  Physiologically  the  color  nerves  require  to 

228 


Color  Harmony 

be  refreshed,  while  psychologically  the  mind  requires 
to  be  relieved  and  stimulated  by  a  note  of  strongly- 
contrasting  color,  as  by  an  occasional  high  or  explo- 
sive note  in  an  even  melody,  or  a  patch  of  shadow  on 
a  sunlit  field  of  grain.  Thus  in  the  dining  room  de- 
scribed above,  wherein  warm  browns,  old  ivory, 
orange,  old  gold  and  Venetian  reds  were  used  to- 
gether, the  decorator  would  also  introduce  a  note  of 
blue  in  Venetian  glass  or  majolica,  and  would  prob- 
ably echo  this  note  in  the  border  of  the  rug,  in  some 
detail  of  the  cornice  boards  that  support  the  hangings, 
and  in  some  part  of  the  design  of  the  parchment  masks 
or  shades  of  the  lighting  fixtures. 

The  amount  of  the  complementary  introduced  into 
a  room  may  vary  anywhere  from  slight  accents  up  to 
a  third  or  even  more  of  all  the  colored  surfaces  of 
the  room.  When  there  is  only  a  little  of  it  the  har- 
mony remains  one  of  analogy,  set  off  by  touches  of  its 
complementary;  when  there  is  a  lot  of  it  the  harmony 
becomes  one  of  complementaries,  or  contrast.  In 
harmonies  of  this  kind,  two  important  colors  only  are 
employed,  although  small  accents  of  other  hues  will 
of  course  be  introduced  into  the  room.  Complemen- 
tary harmonies  are  relatively  easy  to  produce,  and  may 
be  varied  easily  and  safely  from  simplicity  to  relative 
complexity  to  accord  with  personal  feeling  and  the 
decorative  or  emotional  requirements  of  the  room. 
They  are  less  subtle  and  less  restful  than  harmonies  of 
analogy,  but  more  animated  and  more  brilliant.  More- 
over, since  a  pair  of  complementary  colors  are  neces- 
sarily unlike  emotionally — if  one  is  warm  and  exhil- 

229 


The  Principles  of  Interior  Decoration 


R-O 


arating  the  other  is  cool  and  tranquillizing — harmo- 
nies of  this  type  are  incapable  of  expressing  the  tem- 
peramental idea. 

The  real  difficulty  in  the  creation  of  these  harmonies 
is  to  fix  upon  the  complementary  of  the  dominant  hue. 
In  the  chapter  on  color  it  was  pointed  out  that  there  is 

a  difference  between 
the  scientific  facts  of 
color  and  the  work- 
ing explanation  of 
color  phenomena  f  or- 

p-^-f * ^-"P*     mulated     by     Chev- 

reul  and  generally 
adopted  by  artists 
and  color  workers, 
and,  for  the  sake  of 
simplicity  and  help- 
fulness in  practice, 
adopted  also  in  this 
study.  At  this  point,  however,  even  at  the  risk  of  some 
confusion  in  thought,  it  seems  desirable  to  introduce  the 
color  chart,  published  in  Von  Bezold's  Theory  of 
Color,  in  which  the  true  scientific  complementaries  are 
indicated  by  straight  lines  drawn  from  any  point  on 
its  circumference  through  the  center  of  the  circle. 
The  opposing  pairs  of  colors  thus  obtained  are  true 
complementaries  because  each  pair,  when  mixed  as 
colored  lights,  yields  white  light.  Nevertheless,  color 
workers  have  found  that  in  practice  true  complemen- 
taries for  the  most  part  make  disagreeable  contrasts, 
and  that  these  contrasts  are  far  more  agreeable  estheti- 

23° 


FIGURE  45.— The  straight  line  P-P', 
rotating  on  C  as  a  pivot,  indicates  the 
pairs  of  pigmental  complementaries. 


Color  Harmony 


cally  when  the  opposing  colors  are  placed  a  little  nearer 
together  on  the  warm  side  of  the  scale.  Thus  vermilion 
red  is  more  pleasant  with  green  than  with  cyan,  or 
blue-green ;  orange  is  more  agreeable  with  ultra-marine 
than  with  turquoise  or  greenish-blue;  and  yellow  is 
more  pleasant  with  violet  than  with  blue.  For  this 
reason  we  are  war- 
ranted in  accepting 
as  complementaries 
the  pairs  opposed  to 
each  other  in  Fig- 
ure 45. 

It  appears  from 
the  study  of  Von 
Bezold's  chart,  how- 
ever, that  between 
violet,  purple  and  red 
there  are  differences 
far  greater  than 


those   between   their 


FIGURE  46. — A    free   adaptation   of 
Von  Bezold's  chart.    Colors  lying  on 

scientific  COmplemen-    opposite  sides  of  the  center  are  accu- 
rately complementary, 
tanes  —  a  circum- 
stance that  makes  the  use  of  green  in  complementary 
harmonies  very  difficult.     Neither  painters  nor  decora- 
tors  have   used   this   harmony   to   any   great   extent, 
probably  because  of  this  difficulty,  and  it  is  a  safe  rule 
of  practice  to  confine  the  use  of  green  to  harmonies  of 
analogy  or  to  the  triads.     Contrasting  harmonies  of 
yellow-green  and   purple,   yellow  and  violet,   yellow- 
orange  and  violet-blue,  and  orange  and  blue  are  much 
easier  to  manage. 

231 


The  Principles  of  Interior  Decoration 


The  triads  or  trichromatic  harmonies  are  based  upon 
arrangements  of  any  three  hues  that  are  equidistant 
and  therefore  lie  at  the  points  of  an  equilateral  triangle 
inscribed  within  the  chromatic  circle;  as,  for  example, 
red,  blue  and  yellow.  If  one  member  of  a  triad  is 
changed  in  hue  to  right  or  left  each  of  the  other  two 
members  will  normally  be  changed  equally  in  the  same 

direction.  Thus  we 
may  have  triads  in 
red,  blue  and  yellow; 
red-orange,  yellow- 
green  and  blue-violet; 
orange,  green  and  vio- 
Y-0  let;  or  yellow-orange, 
blue-green  and  red- 
violet.  In  addition  to 
these  triads  others 
may  be  devised  by 
skilled  colorists  by 
slightly  altering  one 
as 

in  the  case  of  purple- 
red,  yellow  and  cyan-blue,  or  vermilion,  dark  greenish- 
yellow  (olive)  and  violet-blue — a  triad  much  used  in 
several  of  the  Italian  schools  of  painting.  White  or 
gray  can  be  used  effectively  with  most  of  the  triads, 
and  particularly  with  orange,  green  and  violet,  and 
purple-red,  yellow  and  cyan-blue;  while  in  all  of  the 
triads  small-interval  changes  of  hue  and  the  introduc- 
tion of  small  accents  of  additional  hues  are  permissible. 
Triads  are  difficult  to  use  effectively  in  decoration. 
232 


fc-G 


FIGURE  47. — The  triangle  AEI,  ro- 
tating on  C  as  a  center,  indicates  typi-  r  ,<      i 
cal  triads  or  trichromatic  harmonies.     or  two  ° 


Color  Harmony 

The  delicate  balance  of  colors  in  area,  tone  and  inten- 
sity, perplexing  enough  when  only  two  important  hues 
are  employed,  becomes  very  much  more  perplexing  in 
the  case  of  three  important  hues.  Certain  color  the- 
orists of  the  last  century  worked  out  formulas  designed 
to  guide  the  decorator  in  the  quantitative  distribution 
of  color  areas;  but  these  formulas  are  so  clumsy  and 
inadequate,  and  so  subject  in  practice  to  a  thousand 
modifications  and  derogations,  that  it  is  far  safer  to 
ignore  them  altogether.  Indeed,  it  is  far  safer  for 
the  beginner  to  let  the  triads  alone  until  through  study 
and  experience  he  has  acquired  the  sure  feeling  for 
color  which  makes  all  rules  for  dealing  with  it  merely 
a  hindrance. 

Besides  their  theoretical  complexity,  triad  schemes 
are  in  practice  hard  to  execute  by  reason  of  the  diffi- 
culty of  finding  decorative  materials  in  which  the 
colors  are  properly  distributed.  In  fact  this  is  often 
impossible  unless  the  time  and  money  available  permit 
having  things  specially  designed  and  made  to  order. 
In  the  case  of  our  chosen  dominant  hue,  for  example, 
a  triad  scheme  would  employ  yellow-orange,  blue-green 
and  red-violet.  Since  two  of  these  hues  are  cold,  the 
triad  would  probably  be  disagreeable  in  low  tones. 
Therefore,  in  doing  a  room — say  a  sitting  room  or 
boudoir — the  decorator,  in  order  to  make  the  cold 
colors  light  enough  to  be  agreeable,  would  break  all  the 
colors  with  light  gray,  which  would  give  him  a  light 
grayish  tan,  sage  green,  and  lavender.  Executed  in  the 
best  things  to  be  found  ready-made  in  the  shops,  these 

233 


The  Principles  of  Interior  Decoration 

colors  would  be  likely  to  result  in  a  somewhat  stiff  and 
unsympathetic  arrangement  of  grayish  tan  walls,  sage 
green  plain  carpet,  lavender  on  some  of  the  furniture, 
repeated  in  pictures,  ceramics,  cushions,  or  lamps,  and 
a  mixture  of  lavender,  green  and  grayish  tan  in  printed 
linen  hangings  and  slip  covers  for  some  of  the  furni- 
ture. To  achieve  anything  like  a  subtle  harmony  he 
would  have  to  wait  several  months  and  pay  roundly 
for  a  special  rug  containing  the  three  colors  properly 
distributed,  while  fringes  and  gimps  would  have  to  be 
specially  made,  lamp  bases  and  picture  frames  specially 
toned,  and  a  screen  or  a  decorative  panel  for  the  over- 
mantle  specially  painted. 

Red,  blue  and  yellow  do  not  present  the  same  diffi- 
culties, because  of  the  great  range  of  rugs  and  drapery 
stuffs  containing  those  hues  in  the  lower  values,  as 
well  as  the  range  of  fabrics  containing  rose,  cream  and 
azure  in  the  high  values.  Even  here,  however,  the 
difficulties  are  considerable.  Both  analogous  and  com- 
plementary harmonies  may  under  suitable  conditions 
be  widened  by  accents  to  include  a  wide  gamut  of  col- 
ors, and  therefore  to  meet  practically  every  color  re- 
quirement. 

Having  chosen  the  hues  to  be  used  in  a  given  room, 
the  decorator  must  determine  the  areas  upon  which 
each  hue  is  to  appear.  It  is  clear  that  no  formulas  of 
constant  value  can  be  adduced  to  cover  these  distribu- 
tions, since  the  effect  of  a  color  will  depend  far  more 
upon  its  purity  than  upon  the  superficial  area  it  covers. 
Indeed,  there  is  but  one  rule  which  can  never  be  dis- 
regarded, namely,  that  the  mind  must  not  be  left  in  any 

234 


Courtesy  of  Gill  &  Reigate  Ltd.,  London 


PLATE  XII. — Small  occasional  tables  are  not  only  necessary  in 
grouping  furniture  for  convenient  use,  but  they  also  serve  to  relieve 
a  room  of  the  effect  of  heaviness  due  to  exclusive  use  of  large  pieces, 
and  to  give  it  a  note  of  gaiety  and  animation.  The  table  shown  above 
is  an  example  of  fine  proportion  and  of  perfect  adjustment  of  orna- 
ment to  structure. 


Color  Harmony 

perplexity  as  to  the  dominant  hue.  For  example,  in  a 
room  with  light  golden  brown  walls,  tan  ceiling,  brown 
furniture,  and  olive  rug,  hangings  and  furniture  cov- 
erings, there  is  a  chance  for  perplexity  as  to  which 
color  is  dominant,  and  such  perplexity  would  mean  a 
lack  of  unity  and  therefore  of  beauty  in  the  room.  Here 
the  decorator  will  first  of  all  see  to  it  that  the  yellow 
element  in  both  hues  is  clearly  apparent.  If  this  seems 
insufficient,  olive  and  brown  furniture  coverings,  or 
olive  and  gold  hangings,  or  both,  may  be  substituted  for 
the  plain  olive.  In  other  words,  by  some  method  or 
other  the  dominant  hue  must  be  made  clearly  apparent 
to  the  mind. 

In  triad  schemes  the  two  secondary  hues  may  be  dis- 
tributed pretty  much  according  to  personal  fancy.  These 
two  colors  should,  however,  be  so  distributed  that  the 
total  effect  of  one,  as  determined  both  by  area  and 
intensity,  is  perceptibly  greater  than  that  of  the  other. 

In  complementary  harmonies  the  general  rule  of 
practice  is  to  increase  the  relative  area  of  the  dominant 
hue  as  the  purity  of  the  wall  color  is  increased.  In  a 
yellow  and  violet  room,  for  example,  when  the  walls 
are  of  an  almost  neutral  yellowish-gray  the  quantities 
of  yellow  and  violet  used  in  the  other  surfaces  of  the 
room  would  be  as  nearly  as  practicable  equal;  assum- 
ing, for  the  purposes  of  this  illustration,  that  these 
colors  were  employed  in  equal  intensity.  With  yellow 
walls  of  one-fourth  intensity  the  other  areas  would 
contain  about  twice  as  much  yellow  as  violet,  and  with 
yellow  walls  of  one-half  intensity  about  three  times  as 
much  yellow  as  violet.  With  yellow  and  violet  of 

235 


The  Principles  of  Interior  Decoration 


unequal  intensity  the  relative  areas  would  be  altered 
to  allow  for  the  differences.  The  method,  of  course, 
applies,  roughly,  to  all  pairs  of  complementaries.  It 
is  illustrated  graphically  in  Figure  48,  in  which  the 
upper  section  of  each  oblong  represents  the  wall  area 
and  the  lower  sections  all  the  other  colored  areas. 


FIGURE  48. — In  complementary  schemes  the  area  of  the  domi- 
nant hue,  other  things  being  equal,  is  increased  directly  with  the 
purity  of  the  wall  color. 

The  distribution  of  colors  as  to  their  luminosity, 
apart  from  the  nature  of  the  hues,  is  of  the  greatest 
importance  in  color  practice,  being,  indeed,  fundamental 
to  all  good  work.  The  subject  has  however  been  dis- 
cussed at  such  length  as  is  permitted  by  the  limita- 
tions of  this  study  in  the  chapters  on  contrast  and  light 
and  shade.  It  is  reintroduced  here  merely  in  order  to 
fix  it  in  its  proper  position  in  the  general  subject  of 
color  harmony. 

In  intensity  colors  may  vary  from  spectral  purity 
to  neutral  gray.  Spectrum  colors  are,  as  we  have  re- 
peatedly noted,  bold,  aggressive,  obvious  and  of  pro- 
nounced individuality.  In  direct  proportion  to  the 
degree  in  which  their  own  positive  qualities  are  over- 
come, or  neutralized,  by  the  equally  positive  antitheti- 
cal qualities  of  their  complementaries  they  become 
progressively  quiet,  subtle  and  refined.  It  is  manifest 

236 


Color  Harmony 

that  all  background  surfaces  must  be  relatively  neutral, 
both  because  the  eye  could  not  stand  constant  exposure 
to  large  areas  of  positive  color,  and  because  it  is  the 
proper  function  of  a  background  to  stay  back — to  pro- 
vide an  effective  foil  for  the  clearer  outlines  and 
brighter  colors  of  the  objects  or  the  persons  who  ap- 
pear against  it.  A  delicate  picture  or  complexion 
against  a  pure  red  or  green  or  yellow  background  would 
be  like  a  lullaby  sung  to  the  accompaniment  of  a  cal- 
liope. 

The  wall  color  may  be  anything  from  half -intensity 
to  a  gray  just  tinged  with  the  hue.  Other  things  be- 
ing equal,  purity  of  the  wall  color  will  vary  inversely 
with  the  number  and  purity  of  the  other  hues  in  the 
room.  No  washed-out,  characterless,  colorless  room 
is  pleasant  to  live  in.  Every  room  requires  a  certain 
amount  of  color  interest  and  of  positive  color  quality, 
although  the  amount  will  vary  according  to  the  purpose 
and  size  of  the  room  and  the  tastes  of  its  occupants. 
When  there  are  few  hues  in  the  rugs,  hangings,  furni- 
ture and  decorative  objects  employed  in  a  given  room, 
and  these  few  hues  relatively  neutral  in  character,  the 
walls  ought  normally  to  approach  the  maximum  of  one- 
half  intensity  in  order  to  invest  the  room,  as  a  unit, 
with  the  necessary  color  interest.  For  example,  yellow 
used  on  the  walls  of  a  Craftsman  living  room  furnished 
in  dull  colors  and  having  only  a  few  low-toned  pictures, 
vases  and  books  for  accents  could  be  anywhere  from 
one- fourth  to  one-half  intensity;  whereas  in  a  drawing 
room  furnished  with  a  Kermanshah  rug,  bright-colored 
paintings,  rich  porcelains,  lacquered  cabinets,  and  satin- 

237 


The  Principles  of  Interior  Decoration 

wood  chairs  and  settees  upholstered  in  brocades  or 
damasks  the  hue  would  be  neutralized  to  a  point  where 
it  would  just  appear  in  the  warm  grayish-cream  walls. 

When  the  purity  of  the  dominant  hue  is  constant, 
the  number  and  purity  of  the  subordinate  hues  will  be 
increased  directly  with  the  area  of  the  dominant  hue. 
A  room  done  in  blue  and  tan,  with  tan  walls,  ecru  cur- 
tains, blue  and  fawn  rug,  blue  and  tan  hangings  and  blue 
furniture  coverings  would  need  few  accents  of  other 
colors,  and  those  of  low  intensity.  But  if  hangings  and 
furniture  coverings  of  tan  and  fawn  were  also  used, 
so  that  all  the  background  surfaces  were  in  broken 
tones  of  orange,  strong  accents,  not  only  of  the  com- 
plementary blue  but  also  of  old  red,  green  and  yellow, 
would  be  required  in  order  to  give  sufficient  color  char- 
acter to  the  room. 

Up  to  this  point  we  have  discussed  complementary 
harmonies  as  if  both  colors  could  be  used  pleasantly 
on  plain  surfaces,  and  the  whole  problem  of  their  har- 
monious distribution  were  one  of  area,  purity  and  tone. 
As  a  matter  of  good  practice,  however,  large  plain 
surfaces  can  rarely  be  placed  together  happily,  and 
large  plain  complementary  surfaces  almost  never.  It 
is  not  only  that  the  eye  demands  a  judicious  balance  of 
plain  and  ornamented  surfaces,  but  also,  and  chiefly, 
that  complementary  colors  on  plain  juxtaposed  surfaces 
are  intolerably  abrupt.  Cultivated  people  do  not  like 
abruptness  in  any  of  the  relations  of  life.  Suave 
curves  and  blended  colors  please  in  the  same  way  that 
suave  manners  and  carefully  modulated  voices  please, 
and  for  the  same  reason.  Obviously  complementary 

238 


Color  Harmony 

colors  can  be  blended  only  when  both  are  very  near 
the  point  of  complete  neutralization;  but  under  proper 
conditions  complementaries  of  one-half  and  three- 
fourths  intensity  can  be  so  united  that  they  seem  to 
belong  together,  and  so  that  they  can  be  seen  with  a 
sense  of  pleasing  stimulation  but  with  no  sense  of 
shock.  The  principle,  which  was  mentioned  in  the 
chapter  on  contrast  as  rhythmic  contrast,  is  called, 
according  to  the  method  of  its  application,  interchange 
or  counterchange. 

Contrast,  as  a  principle  of  composition,  emphasizes 
unlikenesses.  Interchange,  on  the  other  hand,  estab- 
lishes the  likeness  or  harmony  of  unlike  elements  by 
giving  to  each  a  part  of  the  other.  Interchanged  col- 
ors were  very  commonly  employed  in  heraldry.  For 
example,  if  a  shield,  divided  longitudinally,  were  half 
red  and  half  white,  a  bar  or  heraldic  figure  placed  at 
the  middle  of  the  shield  would  be  colored  red  on  the 
white  side  and  white  on  the  red  side.  The  principle 
is  employed  continually  in  all  periods  of  good  design. 
It  is  one  of  the  most  important,  and  perhaps  quite 
the  most  consistently  ignored,  in  the  whole  field  of  in- 
terior decoration. 

A  room  with  plain  yellow-orange  (tan)  walls  of 
one-fourth  intensity  and  a  plain  blue  rug  of  one-half 
intensity  would  be  unpleasant.  It  would  be  improved 
slightly  by  the  use  of  plain  blue  hangings  to  harmon- 
ize with  the  rug  and  plain  tan,  mode  or  beaver  furniture 
coverings  to  harmonize  with  the  walls,  since  the  inter- 
change, though  crudely  managed,  would  soften  the 
contrast.  The  improvement  would  be  much  more 

239 


The  Principles  of  Interior  Decoration 

marked  if  a  blue  and  tan  damask,  or  a  linen  or  cre- 
tonne having  these  colors  clearly  emphasized  in  its 
design,  were  substituted  for  the  hangings,  and  used,  in 
conjunction  with  a  plain  or  self -tone  mode  or  beaver 
on  some  of  the  furniture;  and  it  would  be  still  more 
marked  if  the  plain  rug  were  displaced  by  one  in  which 
beaver  or  walnut  appeared  in  the  design  of  border 
or  field,  or  both. 

Applications  and  variations  of  the  method  of  inter- 
change are  innumerable.  No  attempt  to  exemplify  them 
further  need  be  made  here,  since  the  principle  is  so 
simple  that  any  one  can  apply  it.  The  aims  to  be  kept 
in  mind  are  two:  first,  to  soften  the  relationship  of 
contiguous  colors  which  would  otherwise  be  harsh; 
and  secondly  to  effect  an  artistic  and  carefully  balanced 
division  of  the  two  principal  colors.  Thus  the  room 
just  discussed,  having  walls  of  one-fourth  intensity, 
will  be  most  pleasing  if  the  other  colored  surfaces 
reveal  approximately  twice  as  much  of  the  dominant 
hue  as  of  its  complementary.  If,  therefore,  a  consid- 
erable quantity  of  blue  is  used  in  furniture  coverings, 
cushions,  table  runner,  pottery  and  so  forth,  the  amount 
available  for  rugs  and  hangings  will  be  correspond- 
ingly reduced. 

The  trim  or  woodwork  of  a  room  outlines  its  struc- 
ture and  helps  to  steady  and  support  its  decorative 
treatment,  as  was  set  forth  in  the  chapter  on  propor- 
tion. So  far  as  the  effect  of  color  is  concerned,  the 
strength  and  importance  of  the  woodwork  depends  in 
part  upon  darkness  of  tone  and  purity  of  hue,  but 
chiefly  upon  the  contrast  between  the  colors  of  trim  and 
wall.  This  contrast  may  be  in  hue  or  tone  or  intensity, 

240 


Courtesy  of  Arthur  Sanderson.  &•  Sons,  Ltd.,  London. 

PLATE  XIII. — Wall  papers  showing  interesting  background 
textures,  of  varying  decorative  weight,  or  strength.  The  figured 
paper  is  a  wool  flock,  suitable  for  use  in  a  large  and  richly- 
appointed  room  as  a  background  for  large  oil  pictures. 


Color  Harmony 

or  in  any  two  or  all  three  of  these  constants.  Thus  it 
may  range  from  a  trim  painted  to  match  the  walls, 
and  therefore  offering  no  contrast  whatever  except 
in  texture,  up — for  example — to  dark  oak  or  walnut 
woodwork  with  light  clear  blue  walls,  which  would 
afford  a  striking  contrast  in  hue,  intensity  and  tone. 
It  is  unnecessary  to  state  that  the  latter  contrast  would 
be  exceedingly  bad.  A  contrast  of  two  constants  is  all 
that  can  be  permitted,  and  in  many  rooms  a  contrast 
of  one  constant  is  sufficient  for  structural  emphasis. 
Thus  a  bedroom  with  pale  cream  walls  and  trim  to 
match  would  reveal  a  maximum  effect  of  spaciousness 
and  a  minimum  of  snap  and  strength;  while  it  would 
lose  in  spaciousness  and  gain  in  structural  emphasis 
with  a  trim  of  white,  deep  cream,  cafe  an  lait  or  pale 
apple-green. 

In  most  houses  the  trim  is  a  fixed  architectural  fac- 
tor, which  cannot  be  changed  to  suit  the  preferences  of 
the  decorator.  Where  this  is  the  case  the  color  har- 
mony must  be  adjusted  to  take  account  of  the  trim. 
This  adjustment  will  ordinarily  involve  no  modifica- 
tion of  the  hues  to  be  employed;  but  it  usually  involves 
some  modification  of  the  factors  of  luminosity  and 
intensity  in  the  wall  colors.  Where  an  unwelcome 
hue  must  appear  in  the  woodwork  its  appearance  should 
be  minimized  as  far  as  possible  by  doing  away  with 
all  contrast  in  intensity  and  reducing  the  contrast  in 
tone  to  the  minimum.  In  cases  where  the  woodwork 
occupies  a  relatively  large  area,  as  in  a  dining  room 
with  walls  paneled  to  within  a  few  feet  of  the  cor- 
nice, it  will  usually  determine,  or  at  least  limit,  the 
choice  of  hues.  Black  walls,  for  example,  or  walls  of 

241 


The  Principles  of  Interior  Decoration 

very  dark  brown,  necessitate  the  use  of  two  or  more 
warm  colors,  while  white  paneling  ordinarily  requires 
the  use  of  at  least  one  warm  and  one  cool  color. 

Connecting  rooms  must  always  be  united  by  har- 
monious coloring,  and  by  definite  bonds  of  common 
color.  The  degree  of  likeness  in  color  will  depend  in 
part  upon  personal  taste,  in  part  upon  the  similarity 
or  dissimilarity  in  purpose  and  motive  among  the 
rooms,  and  chiefly  upon  their  size.  Where  either  or 
both — or,  in  the  case  of  more  than  two — all  of  the 
connecting  rooms  are  small,  very  little  difference  in 
coloring  is  permissible  in  floor  or  walls,  because  like- 
ness gives  an  effect  of  unity  and  spaciousness,  while 
unlikeness  makes  for  abruptness  and  tends  to  diminish 
the  apparent  size  of  the  rooms.  Where  the  rooms  are 
of  good  size,  and  there  is  reason  to  emphasize  rather 
than  to  minimize  the  individuality  of  each,  it  is  usually 
enough  to  repeat  the  dominant  hue  of  the  most  im- 
portant room  in  some  form,  either  obvious  or  subtle, 
in  each  of  the  connecting  rooms.  Thus  a  suite  of  very 
small  apartments — say  a  living  room,  hall  and  dining 
room — could  be  done  throughout  with  warm  gray 
walls  and  a  dull  reseda  all-over  carpet.  This  would 
yield  the  maximum  effect  of  unity  and  spaciousness, 
while  the  variety  essential  to  beauty  could  be  added  in 
hangings,  furniture  coverings,  pictures,  flowers,  and 
similar  small  accents.  With  rooms  a  little  larger  vary- 
ing tones  of  the  dominant  hue  could  be  used  on  the 
walls,  with  considerable  variation  in  pattern.  With 
large  rooms  different  rugs,  walls  and  hangings  could 
be  used  throughout ;  provided  only  that  the  rooms  were 

242 


Color  Harmony 

tied  together  by  a  clearly  apparent  bond  of  common 
color.  Plain  rugs  of  markedly  different  hues  are  un- 
pleasing  in  adjoining  rooms,  however  large,  unless 
each  is  relatively  neutral,  and  even  then  the  effect  is 
more  convincing  if  the  rugs  have  simple  border  de- 
signs in  interchanged  colors.  Abruptness  must  be  per- 
mitted to  appear  in  a  color  scheme  only  as  a  deliberate 
device  for  adding  interest,  and  it  is  permissible  only 
when  so  limited  in  area  or  in  intensity  that  it  cannot 
disturb  the  whole  treatment.  Violently  contrasting 
colors,  as  we  have  seen,  are  intolerable  except  when 
used  in  very  small  areas.  When  bright,  aggressively 
colored  linens  or  chintzes  are  used  they  must  be  limited 
in  quantity  and  displayed  against  neutral  backgrounds. 
The  layman  is  disposed  to  think  of  color  harmony 
as  almost  wholly  a  matter  of  hue.  It  is  in  fact  largely 
a  matter  of  tone.  Skill  as  a  colorist  in  interior  decora- 
tion is  as  unfailingly  revealed  by  the  ability  to  use  gray- 
ish tones  skillfully  on  the  larger  areas  as  it  is  by  the 
ability  to  create  the  accents  of  brighter  and  purer  color 
that  give  vitality  and  color  charm.  Too  exclusive  use 
of  grayish  tones  will  inevitably  rob  a  room  of  every- 
thing but  quietness,  but  a  free  use  of  relatively  neutral 
color  is  absolutely  essential  to  beauty  and  comfort. 
Gray  is  a  peacemaker  among  colors,  and  a  potent  source 
of  spaciousness  and  repose.  The  charm  of  great 
houses  is  largely  due  to  their  effect  of  broad  spaces; 
and  while  we  cannot  have  broad  spaces  in  small  houses, 
we  can  at  least  make  the  most  of  what  space  we  do  have 
by  the  wise  use  of  atmospheric  coloring. 


243 


CHAPTER  XIV 

ORNAMENT 

ORNAMENT  is  that  which  adorns  and  embel- 
lishes.    It  gives  variety  and  richness  to  the 
ornamented  surfaces,  and  is,  no  less  than 
plainness,  essential  to  beauty  in  the  decora- 
tion of  houses.    Without  ornament  a  room  would  in- 
evitably be  monotonous  and  uninteresting.     It  must, 
however,  be  good  ornament,  and  there  must  not  be 
too  much  of  it. 

Ornament  exists  to  enrich  and  beautify  construc- 
tional forms,  and  it  is  good  ornament  only  when  it 
appears  to  be  not  a  fortuitous  and  unrelated  addition 
to  those  forms,  but  an  integral,  organic  part  of  them; 
as  much  a  matter  of  growth  as  the  markings  of  a  but- 
terfly or  the  plumage  of  a  bird.  In  an  accurate  sense 
ornament  can  have  no  independent  existence.  It  is 
always  a  decoration  or  embellishment,  and  it  is  signifi- 
cant only  in  association  with  some  useful  or  construc- 
tional form  that  it  is  fitted  to  adorn.  The  ornament 
employed  in  the  design  of  the  chair  shown  in  Figure 
10  is  good  ornament  because  it  embellishes  and  empha- 
sizes artistically  the  constructional  lines  of  the  back  and 
legs.  When  on  the  contrary  ornament,  instead  of  be- 

244 


Ornament 

ing  content  to  adorn,  seeks  to  substitute  itself  for 
structural  forms,  as  in  the  Barocco  chair  shown  in 


FIGURE  49. — Ornament   substituted   for  or  exalted  at  the  ex- 
pense of  structure  makes  beauty  impossible. 

Figure  49,   it  becomes  bad   ornament  and  infinitely 
worse  than  none  at  all. 

245 


The  Principles  of  Interior  Decoration 

All  ornament,  whatever  its  character,  can  be  traced 
to  an  origin  in  either  natural  or  geometrical  forms. 
The  earliest  ornament  was  almost  wholly  geometrical, 
and  consisted  chiefly  in  simple  arrangements  of  straight, 
curved  and  zigzag  lines,  or  rhythmically  repeated 
circles,  scrolls,  squares  and  triangles.  With  advancing 
culture  and  increasing  technical  skill  primitive  man 
learned  to  look  to  nature  for  his  ornament.  Animal 
and  plant  forms  were  drawn  from  the  natural  world, 
and  more  and  more  employed  in  the  embellishment  of 
arms,  vessels  and  wall  surfaces. 

Natural  forms  employed  as  the  basis  of  ornamental 
design  may  be  used  by  the  designer  in  either  of  two 
ways.  When  such  a  form  is  accurately  copied,  so  that 
both  its  details  and  its  peculiar  order  of  growth  or 
development  are  imitated,  the  ornament  is  said  to  be 
naturalistic.  When  the  ornament  simply  reproduces 
the  typical  form  of  the  natural  object,  changing  its 
details  and  coloring  and  disregarding  its  natural  order 
of  growth,  it  is  said  to  be  conventional.  The  wall 
papers  pictured  in  Plate  XIV  show  ornament  drawn 
from  nature,  in  varying  degrees  of  conventionalization. 
The  Greek  honeysuckle  or  anthernion  is  purely  con- 
ventional ornament.  In  the  great  ornamental  styles 
the  details  have  for  the  most  part  been  taken  from  na- 
ture, but  treated  conventionally.  There  may  be  a 
fairly  close  imitation  of  natural  forms  in  the  parts  of 
an  ornamental  design,  but  never  of  the  natural  order 
of  growth ;  for  it  is  in  the  nature  of  good  ornament  to 
fit  the  structural  form  of  the  object  it  adorns,  and  this 

246 


Courtesy   of   Arthur  Sanderson   &•   Sons.   Ltd..   London. 

PLATE  XIV.— Wall  papers  illustrating  varying  degrees  of  con- 
ventionalization in  ornament. 


Ornament 

is  possible  only  when  the  natural  order  of  growth  is 
disregarded. 

However,  the  person  of  uncultivated  taste  has  a 
marked  predilection  for  the  mere  imitation  of  natural 
forms,  and  in  all  periods  of  poor  taste  naturalistic  or- 
nament is  very  common.  Forty  years  ago,  in  what 
might  be  called  the  iron  stag  age  of  American  home- 
making,  we  were  graining  wood  and  wall  paper  to  imi- 
tate marble,  hanging  hair  wreaths  and  wax  flowers, 
glass-encased,  on  our  walls,  and  weaving  the  images 
of  cats  and  dogs,  to  say  nothing  of  roses  and  holly- 
hocks, into  our  rugs.  In  England  and  Germany  things 
were  as  bad  or  worse;  and  even  in  France  naturalistic 
roses  were  woven  into  the  Aubusson  and  Savonnerie 
carpets  of  the  old  regime,  while  it  remained  for  a 
Frenchman  of  a  later  date  to  design  a  porte-cure-dents, 
or  toothpick  holder,  carved  or  cast  in  the  form  of  a 
turkey  gobbler,  with  the  toothpicks  tastefully  disposed 
fan-wise  to  form  the  tail.  To-day  naturalistic  orna- 
ment is  largely  confined  to  floor  coverings,  wall  papers, 
drapery  stuffs  and  hand-painted  china,  and  while  a  lot 
of  it  is  to  be  seen  in  the  shops,  and  more  of  it  in  the 
homes  of  unsophisticated  folk,  no  one  is  compelled  to 
buy  it ;  for  so  notable  has  been  the  progress  of  Ameri- 
can manufacturers  during  the  past  ten  or  fifteen  years 
that  it  is  possible  to  find  properly  conventionalized  or- 
nament in  any  field,  and  at  any  price. 

The  fondness  for  naturalistic  ornament  is  no  doubt 
due  primarily  to  the  instinct  of  imitation,  which  in- 
clines us  to  like  what  we  have  seen  before  and  can 

247 


The  Principles  of  Interior  Decoration 

recognize  without  difficulty.  That  this  fondness  is 
so  persistent  is  due  to  our  failure  to  distinguish  be- 
tween the  functions  of  pictorial  and  decorative  art.  It 
is  the  proper  function  of  a  picture  to  set  forth  an  ap- 
pearance of  nature,  whereas  it  is  the  sole  function  of 
ornament  to  adorn  useful  forms,  and  to  make  them  as 
agreeable  as  possible  to  the  eye.  To  do  this  ornament 
must,  as  we  have  seen,  become  an  integral  part  of  these 
forms,  adapted  to  their  structural  peculiarities,  and 
without  any  independent  character  of  its  own.  Thus 
the  rose  in  a  carpet,  wall  paper  or  drapery  stuff  is  not 
in  any  proper  sense  a  picture  of  a  natural  rose.  It  is 
simply  a  means  of  adorning  or  embellishing  a  textile 
surface,  and  as  such  it  shares  in  the  nature  of  the 
textile  and  becomes  a  part  of  it.  In  the  degree  that 
the  rose  is  designed  to  copy  nature  accurately,  and  to 
reveal  a  separate  existence  apart  from  the  textile,  it 
ceases  to  be  good  ornament  and  becomes  a  poor  pic- 
ture, and  is  just  as  objectionable  as  any  other  poor 
picture  would  be  if  it  were  repeated  every  few  inches. 
Ornamental  forms  are  used  not  only  for  their  purely 
esthetic  value  as  an  ornament  or  enrichment  of  struc- 
tural forms,  but  also,  in  many  schools  of  ornament, 
as  symbols,  or  signs  employed  to  represent  and  sug- 
gest an  idea.  Thus  the  trefoil  was  used  in  Gothic  art 
not  only  to  embellish  structure,  but  also  as  the  symbol 
of  the  Trinity,  as  the  lotus  was  used  in  ancient  Egypt 
and  throughout  the  East  as  the  symbol  of  fecundity 
and  ever-renewing  life.  Historic  ornament  is  some- 
times symbolic,  like  that  of  Egypt ;  sometimes  esthetic, 
like  that  of  Greece;  sometimes  both  esthetic  and  sym- 

248 


Ornament 

bolic,  like  that  of  Persia.  Primitive  art  is  largely 
symbolic,  while  as  man  advances  in  intelligence  and 
culture  he  has  less  need  for  a  symbolism  as  such,  and 
is  more  and  more  concerned  with  the  esthetic  value  of 
all  ornamental  forms.  Thus  even  when  through  the 
influence  of  religious  ideas  ornament  retains  a  mark- 
edly symbolic  character  it  is  more  and  more  expressed 
in  modes  based  upon  symmetry  of  form  and  har- 
mony of  color,  and  thus  designed  to  appeal  to  the 
sense  of  the  beautiful  as  well  as  to  the  under- 
standing. 

Present-day  secular  ornament  is  purely  esthetic.  It 
employs  symbolic  forms  without  reference  to  their 
meaning,  and  only  in  so  far  as  they  are  intrinsically 
pleasing.  Yet  the  pleasure  of  the  decorator  in  his  work, 
and  the  pleasure  of  each  of  us  in  his  home,  is  greatly 
enhanced  by  a  knowledge  of  symbolic  ornament.  It 
is  a  thread  that  unites  us  with  the  life  of  the  past,  a 
light  that  reveals  a  little  of  the  immense  and  shadowy 
reaches  of  human  thought  and  aspiration.  Any  one 
can  see  the  beauty  of  ornament  in  the  swastika  or  gam- 
madion  fret  as  used  to  embellish  the  apron  of  an 
eighteenth-century  English  table.  The  initiate  alone 
sees  twenty-five  centuries  beyond  England  to  Greece, 
and  twenty-five — fifty — perhaps  a  hundred  centuries 
beyond  Greece  to  the  immemorial  East;  for  the  swas- 
tika recreates  in  his  imagination  that  dim  time  when 
man  tried  with  a  few  crude  marks  to  express  the  daily 
wonder  of  the  sun's  forward  course  across  the  heavens, 
as  the  lotus  and  the  tree  forms  of  Oriental  rugs  reveal 
to  him  primitive  man's  awed  consciousness  of  the  mys- 

249 


The  Principles  of  Interior  Decoration 

terious  generative  forces  of  nature,  and  half  lift  the 
veil  from  ancient  and  all-but-forgotten  faiths. 

Ornamental  art  was  old — probably  thousands  of 
years  old — at  the  time  of  the  cave-man.  Its  historical 
development  can  be  traced  backward  in  existing  monu- 
ments to  the  middle  kingdom  of  Egypt,  while  there  is 
sound  reason  to  believe  that  some  of  the  ornamental 
forms  found  in  modern  rugs  from  Turkestan  have 
persisted  unchanged  for  more  than  six  thousand  years. 
While  ornamental  forms  and  symbols  have  for  thou- 
sands of  years  been  spread  from  one  land  to  another, 
through  commercial  intercourse  and  by  the  tides  of 
immigration  and  conquest,  so  that  the  whole  subject 
of  the  rise  and  evolution  of  ornament  is  enormously 
complex,  we  can  say  that  in  the  development  of  Euro- 
pean civilization  there  have  been  nine  great  character- 
istic ornamental  styles :  in  the  ancient  world,  the  Egyp- 
tian, the  Greek  and  the  Roman ;  in  the  medieval  world, 
the  Byzantine,  the  Saracenic  and  the  Gothic;  and  in 
the  modern  world,  the  Renaissance,  the  Cinquecento 
and  the  Louis  Quatorze.  Several  of  these  styles  have 
had  two  or  more  strongly  marked  modes — as  Doric 
and  Alexandrine  Greek,  or  Romanesque,  Lombard  and 
Norman  Byzantine — while  the  sub-variants  in  different 
countries  and  among  different  peoples  have  been  al- 
most innumerable. 

The  student  will,  of  course,  note  that  historic  orna- 
ment and  historic  decoration  are  by  no  means  the  same 
thing.  Many  of  the  so-called  period  styles  in  decora- 
tion and  furniture  have  been  developed  since  the  rise 
of  the  last  great  ornamental  style,  and  have  drawn 

250 


Ornament 

their  ornamental  detail  from  whatever  historic  sources 
suited  the  designers.  Thus  the  ornament  of  the  Louis 
Seize  and  Empire  styles  in  France,  the  Adam  style  in 
England,  and  the  Biedermaier  style  in  Germany  is 
adapted  from  classical  antiquity. 

Successful  practice  in  interior  decoration  does  not 
require  an  encyclopedic  knowledge  of  historic  orna- 
ment, but  it  does  require  a  very  considerable  and  a 
very  accurate  knowledge  of  that  subject.  This  knowl- 
edge the  student  of  interior  decoration  who  aims  at 
anything  approaching  a  mastery  of  his  subject  must 
acquire,  even  though  its  acquisition  involve  some 
drudgery.  Moreover,  a  little  knowledge  of  the  evo- 
lution of  ornamental  art  ought  to  be  a  part  of  the 
equipment  of  every  cultivated  person;  for  every  orna- 
mental form  is  a  human  document,  and  ornamental 
art  is  as  much  a  revelation  of  the  life  and  culture  of 
a  race  or  an  epoch  as  is  architecture  or  literature. 

There  is  a  wide  literature  of  ornament,  and  the  stu- 
dent will  be  helped  both  by  such  works  as  the  analytical 
studies  of  Crane,  Day,  Wornum  and  Hamlin,  and  by  the 
numerous  manuals  or  cyclopedias  of  ornament,  which 
contain  innumerable  examples  of  historic  ornament. 
Of  these  manuals  Meyer's  Handbook  of  Ornament, 
Glazier's  Manual  of  Historic  Ornament  and  Speltz's 
Styles  of  Ornament  are  in  black  and  white  and  easily 
accessible.  The  two  great  manuals  in  color  are  Owen 
Jones'  Grammar  of  Ornament  and  Racinet's  L'orne- 
ment  polychrome. 

The  three  cardinal  sins  against  good  decoration  in 
the  choice  and  distribution  of  ornament  are  revealed 

251 


The  Principles  of  Interior  Decoration 

by  the  use  of  ornament  not  properly  related  to  and 
dependent  upon  structure,  the  use  in  the  same  compo- 
sition of  ornamental  forms  which  seem  to  be  incon- 
gruous— that  is,  incapable  of  having  grown  together; 
and  the  use  of  too  much  or  too  little  ornament. 

The  decorator  can  escape  the  first  sin,  as  he  can 
escape  so  many  other  sins  against  good  decoration, 
by  the  mere  exercise  of  care  and  common  sense.  He 
can  escape  the  second  sin  only  through  a  sound  study 
of  ornament,  which  will  enable  him  to  avoid  incon- 
gruities both  in  the  character  of  ornament  and  in  de- 
grees of  conventionalization,  which  is  a  matter  no 
less  important. 

The  distribution  of  ornament  and  the  relation  of  or- 
namented to  plain  surfaces  is  a  matter  of  very  great 
importance  in  decoration,  both  in  the  treatment  of  the 
room  regarded  as  a  whole  and  in  the  design  of  indi- 
vidual units.  The  mind  finds  a  room  with  too  much 
ornament  distracting  and  wearisome,  and  one  with 
too  little  ornament  tedious  and  dull.  That  is,  it  wants, 
here  as  everywhere,  to  be  aware  of  the  presence  of 
unity  in  diversity.  Beauty  and  comfort  are  possible 
only  where  there  is  neither  too  little  nor  too  much. 
The  student  will  sometimes  find  in  books  on  interior 
decoration  definite  formulas  for  the  distribution  of 
ornament;  as,  for  example,  the  statement  that  figured 
rugs  demand  plain  walls  and  hangings,  figured  walls 
plain  rugs  and  hangings,  and  figured  hangings  plain 
rugs  and  walls.  Such  formulas  are  of  no  value  what- 
ever, since  they  may  be,  and  in  fact  are  continually 
disregarded  with  the  happiest  results. 

252 


Ornament 

Probably  no  formula  can  be  adduced  to  cover  the 
distribution  of  ornament  more  definite  than  the  one 
which  was  included  in  the  chapter  on  proportion.  We 
know  that  we  must  have  a  judicious  balance  between 
plain  and  ornamented  surfaces ;  but  we  know  also  that 
within  the  maximum  and  minimum  limits  imposed  by 
this  esthetic  requirement  we  can  in  practice  vary  in  a 
marked  degree  the  relative  emphasis  placed  upon  plain 
or  ornamented  surfaces  in  the  decoration  of  a  given 
room.  Relative  emphasis  upon  plain  as  opposed  to 
ornamented  surfaces  makes  for  fineness  and  delicacy 
of  effect,  while  relative  emphasis  upon  ornamented 
as  opposed  to  plain  surfaces  makes  for  richness  and 
breadth  of  effect.  Over-emphasis  upon  plainness  re- 
sults in  thin,  poor  and  weak  rooms.  Over-emphasis 
upon  ornament  results  in  over-complexity  and  that 
confusion  which  is  invariably  fatal  to  beauty. 


253 


CHAPTER  XV 

EXCELLENCE  IN  DESIGN 

WE  have  seen  that  in  the  perfectly  furnished 
room  the  parts  are  so  congruous  in  pro- 
portion and  so  harmonious  in  line  and  col- 
oring that  the  room  appears  to  be  not  a 
creation  but  a  growth.    Nevertheless  it  is  purely  a  crea- 
tion, made  up  of  many  separate  units — of  floor  and  wall 
coverings,  furniture,  hangings,  and  decorative  acces- 
sories of  many  kinds.     While  the  decorator  does  not 
in  ordinary  practice  design  these  units,  he  must  choose 
and  combine  them;  and  since  the  organic  excellence 
of  the  finished  room  will  be  strictly  conditioned  by  the 
designs  of  the  individual  units,  he  must  be  able  to 
recognize  excellence  or  the  lack  of  it  in  the  designs  of 
these  units. 

Excellence  in  design  is  not  a  simple  quality,  but 
rather  a  complex  made  up  of  many  qualities,  both  es- 
thetic and  practical.  Nor  is  it  in  practice  a  fixed  and 
unchanging  quality;  for  good  decoration,  as  we  have 
seen,  is  largely  a  matter  of  correct  relationships,  and 
a  given  design  may  be  admirable  in  one  situation  and 
quite  the  opposite  in  another.  The  fact  is  that  before 
a  design  can  be  accepted  as  excellent  it  must  pass  four 
tests:  first,  it  must  fit  its  particular  purpose  or  func- 

254 


Excellence  in  Design 


tion;  second,  it  must  be  adapted  to  the  material  in 
which  it  is  expressed;  third,  it  must  fit  its  decorative 
environment;  and  finally,  apart  from  all  considera- 
tions of  fitness,  it  must 
be  intrinsically  good- 
looking. 

Fitness  to  purpose  is 
the  first  test  of  excellence 
in  the  design  of  any  dec- 
orative unit.  Through- 
out all  the  appointments 
of  a  house  every  back- 
ground surface  and  every 
object  of  use  or  orna- 
ment must  be  adopted  in 
size,  shape,  color,  pattern 
and  material  to  the  pur- 
pose it  is  destined  to 
serve.  Important  as  is 
this  test  of  fitness, 
neither  technical  training 
in  design  nor  even  a 
highly  cultivated  taste  is 

required  for  its  applica-      FlGURE  5o._Louis  XVI  draper- 
tion,    but    only    common   ies  which  violate  the  requirements 

sense  and  an  open  mind.  of  fitness  to  function  in  desisn- 
It  is  a  matter  of  common  sense,  for  example,  that  drap- 
eries, in  addition  to  the  purely  artistic  value  of  their  tex- 
ture, coloring  and  pattern,  ought  to  subdue  or  control 
the  lighting  of  a  room,  to  ensure  a  sense  of  privacy  or 
intimacy  to  its  occupants,  and  to  soften  and  yet  empha- 

255 


The  Principles  of  Interior  Decoration 

size  the  structural  lines  of  its  openings.  Draperies  that 
perform  none  of  these  useful  offices  and  are  by  nature 
incapable  of  performing  any  of  them  are  bad  in  design, 
whether  they  appear  as  cheap  and  tawdry  rope  or 
leather  portieres,  or  as  such  elaborate  and  costly  ex- 
amples as  the  Louis  XVI  hangings  illustrated  in  Fig- 
ure 50.  Common  sense  will  likewise  reject  the  writing 
desk  too  small  or  unstable  for  comfortable  use;  the 
lamp  with  no  real  power  of  illumination;  the  easily- 
soiled  and  perishable  pillow;  the  lounging  chair  too 
shallow  in  the  seat  or  low  in  the  back  or  high  in  the 
arms  to  sustain  in  comfort  the  particular  individual 
for  whose  use  it  is  primarily  intended;  and  the  multi- 
tude of  similar  violations  of  this  primary  requirement 
of  sound  taste. 

Care  and  common  sense  will  also  enable  us  to  apply 
the  second  test  of  fitness.  "Never  forget  the  material 
you  are  working  with,  and  try  always  to  make  it  do 
what  it  can  do  best,"  cautioned  William  Morris.  Mani- 
festly sensible  as  is  this  advice,  it  has  been  and  is  to- 
day widely  ignored,  with  a  marked  resulting  loss  in 
the  beauty  or  fitness  of  many  decorative  materials. 
Thus  the  base  of  a  floor  lamp  may  safely  be  made  of 
wood  and  carved  into  an  elaborate  Renaissance  design ; 
but  the  same  design,  cast  in  compo,  is  almost  certain 
to  be  chipped  and  broken  within  a  short  period  of 
time.  Delicately-colored  naturalistic  flowers  are  un- 
pleasant either  in  woolen  floor  coverings  or  in  wrought 
iron  table  bases;  yet  we  find  them  in  both  situations. 
Many  of  the  designs  found  in  self -toned  damasks  are 

256 


Excellence  in  Design 

fitting  and  effective  when  reproduced  in  inexpensive 
papers;  but  the  involved  and  multi-colored  patterns 
of  good  brocades  are  dauby  and  ineffective  when  copied, 
as  they  frequently  are,  in  wall  papers.  Even  so  great 
an  artist  as  Chippendale  frequently  carved  the  backs 
of  his  chairs  into  delicate  interlacing  ribbon  forms 
wholly  unsuitable  to  a  rendering  in  wood. 

What  the  decorator  must  be  most  carefully  on  guard 
against,  however,  is  the  effect  of  pretentiousness  and 
tawdriness  that  results  from  the  use  of  things  made 
from  inexpensive  materials  and  by  cheap  processes  in 
imitation  of  costly  things.  When  the  design  of  a  Sav- 
onnerie  or  Persian  rug  costing  one  hundred  dollars  a 
square  yard  is  imitated  in  a  machine  axminster  fabric 
costing  five  dollars  a  square  yard  no  part  of  the  ex- 
cellence of  the  original  can  be  made  to  appear  in  the 
copy,  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  the  axminster  designer 
has  practically  an  unlimited  palette  at  his  command; 
while  the  real  excellence  of  the  axminster  fabric  itself, 
which  would  be  perfectly  apparent  in  a  simple  design, 
is  also  lost.  Unhappily  there  is  a  constant  demand 
from  the  purchasing  public  for  things  which  are  at 
once  cheap  and  showy,  and  the  manufacturer  is  forced 
—sometimes  much  against  his  will — to  bring  out  in 
cheap  materials  and  by  purely  mechanical  processes 
crude  copies  of  designs  by  nature  restricted  to  costly 
materials  and  slow  and  expensive  hand  processes.  Thus 
our  shops  and  our  homes  are  filled  with  dreary  imita- 
tions of  filet  or  point  de  Venise  lace  curtains,  furni- 
ture machine-carved  and  ornamented  with  jigsaw  or 
compo  applique,  and  printed  velveteen  upholstery  fab- 

257 


The  Principles  of  Interior  Decoration 

ncs  that  look  as  little  like  the  sumptuous  old  velvets 
from  which  their  designs  were  taken  as  a  chromo  looks 
like  a  Turner  canvas. 

It  is  unnecessary  to  discuss  at  length  the  third  test 
of  excellence  in  design,  since  the  whole  course  of  our 
study  has  tended  to  emphasize  its  importance.  Be- 
cause unity  and  beauty  in  decoration  largely  depend 
upon  sound  proportion  and  upon  recurring  forms  and 
colors  the  designs  of  single  objects  to  be  used  in  a 
given  room  must  harmonize,  both  in  structural  lines 
and  ornamental  details,  with  the  predominant  lines  and 
forms  of  the  room  regarded  as  a  unit;  except,  as  noted 
in  earlier  chapters,  where  differences  are  introduced 
for  the  sake  of  contrast.  Failure  to  appreciate  the 
fundamental  importance  of  this  requirement  is  re- 
sponsible for  much  bad  decoration.  There  are  for 
example  many  persons  who,  seeing  the  manifest  beauty 
of  some  Oriental  rugs  and  their  incomparable  fitness 
and  excellence  in  certain  situations,  act  upon  the  as- 
sumption that  all  Oriental  rugs  are  beautiful  and  excel- 
lent in  any  situation;  just  as  there  are  other  people  who, 
seeing  the  manifest  ugliness  of  some  Oriental  rugs  and 
their  incomparable  unfitness  in  certain  situations,  act 
upon  the  assumption  that  all  Oriental  rugs  are  unfitting 
in  any  situation.  Of  course,  some  of  these  rugs  are 
intrinsically  beautiful  and  some  are  not;  but  the  point 
to  be  pressed  here  is  that  no  rug,  whatever  its  intrinsic 
merits,  can  be  regarded  as  excellent  in  a  particular  room 
unless  it  is  harmonious  with  the  lines  and  coloring 
dominant  in  the  room,  and  accordingly  capable  of  con- 
curring in  the  proper  expression  of  the  decorative  mo- 

258 


Excellence  in  Design 

tive.  Thus  the  soft  curves  and  delicate  coloring  of 
most  Kashan  and  Kermanshah  rugs  make  these  weaves 
admirable  for  use  in  a  drawing  room  filled  with  light, 
graceful  furniture  in  which  curves  are  more  or  less 
strongly  emphasized,  as  in  the  styles  of  Hepplewhite 
or  Louis  XVI,  and  quite  unfit  for  use  in  a  living  room 
furnished  with  Craftsman  furniture,  or  with  the  heavy 
straight-lined  types  of  the  Renaissance;  while  the 
straighter  lines,  more  angular  forms,  and  darker  and 
purer  colors  of  a  Bijar  rug  make  it  excellent  in  the 
latter  situation  and  quite  unfitting  in  the  former. 

The  fourth  test  of  excellence  in  a  design  is  the 
test  of  beauty.  Beauty  in  a  rug,  a  table  or  a  textile 
is  like  beauty  in  the  room  as  a  unit  in  that  it  is  beyond 
definition  and  beyond  convincing  analysis.  It  is,  how- 
ever, dependent  upon  unity  in  diversity,  graceful  and 
rhythmic  line,  good  proportion,  symmetry,  and  pleasing 
color.  There  is,  of  course,  this  obvious  distinction: 
that  the  rug  or  the  table  or  the  velvet  are  but  parts 
of  the  whole  treatment,  and  as  such  may  properly 
lack  elements  of  beauty  which  are  supplied  by  other 
parts  of  the  whole.  Thus  a  plain  rug,  like  a  plain 
paper  or  a  plain  taffeta,  though  it  lack  variety  both 
in  pattern  and  coloring,  may  be  beautiful  in  a  room 
where  its  plainness  is  required  to  set  off  the  rich  di- 
versity of  other  decorative  elements. 

The  best  way  to  learn  to  recognize  beauty  in  a  de- 
sign is  to  observe  and  compare  designs,  of  whatever 
sort  and  wherever  they  are  to  be  seen ;  whether  in  the 
home,  the  shop  or  the  museum.  The  next  best  way, 
and  a  way  open  to  all  of  us,  whatever  our  situation,  is 

259 


The  Principles  of  Interior  Decoration 

to  study  illustrations  of  designs  in  books  and  maga- 
zines. It  makes  no  difference  that  many  of  the  de- 
signs we  see  are  bad,  so  long  as  we  see  large  numbers 
of  examples,  and  study  them  carefully  and  impartially, 
for  the  eye  and  the  mind  quickly  acquire  through  prac- 
tice and  discipline  the  power  to  discriminate  between 
bad  and  good.  In  fact  we  learn  to  know  the  good  more 
quickly  through  comparison  with  the  bad. 

It  is  important  to  note  that  the  student  will  profit 
most  largely  from  the  observation  and  study  of  indi- 
vidual designs,  rather  than  from  groups  made  up  of 
many  diverse  units.  When  the  layman  looks  at  a 
furnished  room,  whether  in  a  book  or  out  of  it,  he 
sees  too  much  and  grasps  too  little.  Individual  ex- 
cellence or  the  lack  of  it  is  obscured  or  lost  in  the 
effect  of  the  whole.  The  study  of  complete  rooms  is. 
of  course  an  important  and  necessary  part  of  the 
training  of  the  decorator — the  study  of  them,  not  mere 
hurried  glances  at  them,  which  are  of  slight  value; 
but  this  study  must  be  supplemented  by  the  study  of 
individual  units  and  of  related  groups.  The  value  of 
a  systematic  study  of  period  decoration  lies  in  con- 
siderable part  in  the  fact  that  it  presents  for  compari- 
son these  groups  of  related  units,  points  out  their  re- 
semblances and  their  differences,  and  makes  it  easy 
for  the  student  to  detect  and  fix  in  mind  the  sources 
of  their  excellence. 

Another  very  important  source  of  help  toward 
acquiring  the  power  to  judge  soundly  of  excellence  in 
design  is  a  study  of  the  principles  of  design.  This 
does  not  mean  that  the  decorator  must  become  a  prac- 

260 


Courtesy  of  Gill  &  Reigate  Ltd.,  London. 

PLATE  XV. — This  richly  carved  I7th  century  chair  has  a  raked  or 
inclined  back  with  perpendicular  back  leys.  Note  that  when  the  back 
of  a  chair  is  inclined  the  back  legs  must,  to  satisfy  the  demand  of 
the  mind  for  an  appearance  of  stability,  be  inclined  backward  reci- 
procally, as  in  Figure  10. 


Excellence  in  Design 

tical  designer.  It  means  only  that  his  perceptions  will 
be  sharpened  and  his  taste  notably  improved  by  a  real 
familiarity  with  the  theory  of  design.  Many  helpful 
studies  in  this  subject  will  be  found  in  the  works  of 
Walter  Crane  and  Lewis  F.  Day,  in  works  on  the 
principles  of  design  by  Rhead,  by  Batchelder  and  by 
Jackson,  and  particularly  in  La  composition  decora- 
tive by  Mayeux,  a  book  published  in  English  as  The 
Manual  of  Decorative  Composition.  This  work,  par- 
ticularly the  first  or  theoretical  part,  is  invaluable. 

Every  design,  whatever  its  character,  consists  essen- 
tially of  a  plan  and  details,  and  it  cannot  be  a  good 
design  unless  the  details  are  kept  clearly  subordinate 
to  the  plan  and  help  in  its  perfect  realization.  We 
have  seen  this  to  be  emphatically  true  of  the  design  of 
a  room  as  a  unit,  and  it  is  equally  true  of  the  design 
of  a  rug  or  a  chair.  The  Barocco  chair  shown  in  Fig- 
ure 49  is  an  extreme  example  in  furniture  design  of 
this  defect.  In  this  chair  the  mass  of  over-luxuriant 
ornamental  detail  obscures  the  structural  lines  of  the 
piece  and  thus  prevents  the  possibility  of  beauty,  to 
say  nothing  of  fitness,  in  the  whole.  Similar  examples 
of  the  loss  of  beauty  through  subordination  of  plan 
to  detail  are  afforded  by  the  use  of  wall  papers  of  large, 
sprawling  or  over-pronounced  design  in  situations 
where  the  pattern  strikes  the  openings  and  corners  of 
the  room  in  such  irregular  ways  as  to  make  the  whole 
effect  of  the  walls  confusing  and  meaningless.  This 
defect  is  frequently  found  in  rooms  where  fine  and 
costly  hand-blocked  landscape  papers  are  used. 

The  walls,  as  the  principal  background  surface,  are 
261 


The  Principles  of  Interior  Decoration 

so  important  as  to  condition  definitely  the  success  of 
the  room,  and  their  design  must  accordingly  be  most 
carefully  studied.  A  discussion  of  the  methods  of 
treating  walls  in  modern  decorative  practice  does  not 
lie  within  the  scope  of  this  study.  The  student  will, 
however,  find  plenty  of  material  and  innumerable  il- 
lustrations of  successful  walls  in  every  library.  It 
must  be  remembered  that  paneled  walls,  whether  done 
in  natural  woods  or  in  canvas  and  paint,  are  abso- 
lutely dependent  upon  excellence  in  proportion,  and 
that  they  must  always  be  designed  by  a  competent 
architectural  designer.  Paneling  in  natural  woods 
gives  to  the  walls  of  a  room  a  marked  effect  of  strength 
and  stability — qualities  which  are,  of  course,  desirable 
in  large  rooms  of  a  serious  character,  but  undesirable 
in  large  rooms  of  a  lighter  and  gayer  character,  and 
in  small  rooms  of  any  character.  Painted  walls,  on 
which  plaster  or  wooden  moldings  are  used  with  can- 
vas-covered backgrounds,  can  be  used  in  rooms  of  any 
size,  though  it  is  clear  that  the  note  of  restraint  and 
formality  with  which  they  always  invest  a  room  will 
become  more  insistent  as  the  rooms  are  increasingly 
smaller. 

Concerning  excellence  in  the  design  of  wall  papers 
and  cloth  fabrics,  we  have  noted  in  earlier  chapters 
that,  in  general,  size  of  pattern,  or  effect  of  texture, 
or  both,  will  increase  directly  with  the  size  and  struc- 
tural emphasis  of  the  room;  that  the  amount  of  pat- 
tern and  the  number  of  colors  in  a  wall  paper  must  be 
decreased  as  the  quantity  and  number  in  the  other 
surfaces  of  the  room  are  increased;  and  that  while  the 

262 


Excellence  in  Design 

ornamental  detail  in  a  paper  may  be  drawn  from 
nature,  it  must,  except  in  the  case  of  hand-blacked  land- 
scape papers,  be  highly  conventionalized. 

While  a  paper  intended  to  serve  as  a  background  for 
pictures  or  for  other  objects  of  marked  decorative 
value  must  have  a  pleasing  texture,  it  will  normally  be, 
either  plain  or  covered  with  an  inconspicuous  self- 
toned  pattern.  Water  colors,  pastels  and  etchings  used 
in  a  small  room  will  look  best  against  plain  walls. 
Large  heavily- framed  pictures  in  a  large  room  will 
look  better  on  a  coarse  or  open  texture,  or,  where  the 
proportions  of  the  room  demand  it,  against  a  medium- 
sized  and  symmetrical  pattern  in  a  self-toned  paper. 
In  a  room  without  pictures  or  other  wall  ornament 
the  wall  paper  may,  of  course,  reveal  a  more  pro- 
nounced pattern  and  richer  coloring;  but  even  here  it 
is  to  be  remembered  that  in  the  background  surfaces 
of  any  room  to  be  used  regularly  and  for  long  periods 
of  time  cultivated  people  can  endure  but  a  very  moderj 
ate  degree  of  stimulation.  The  gorgeous  papers  that 
one  sees  in  the  shops  or  reads  of  in  the  books  can  be 
hung  successfully  only  in  rooms  used  infrequently  or 
for  short  periods ;  and  even  then  they  can  be  employed 
safely  only  by  skillful  decorators.  In  the  hands  of 
beginners  the  use  of  such  papers  is  practically  certain 
to  result  in  unpleasant  and  inartistic  rooms. 

All  wall  papers,  except  the  hand-blocked  scenic  pa- 
pers so  much  used  at  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  cen- 
tury, have  of  necessity  a  repeating  pattern.  Unless  the 
repeat  is  wholly  concealed,  as  in  the  case  of  shaded  or 
blended  papers,  it  should  be  clearly  revealed  and  even 

263 


The  Principles  of  Interior  Decoration 

emphasized.  For  this  reason  diaper  patterns  are  likely 
to  be  far  more  agreeable  when  hung  than  detached 
figures  in  which  the  ornament,  though  constantly  re- 
peated, is  set  off  by  plain  spaces.  Such  papers  have  a 
spotty  effect,  and  an  insistence  of  appeal  that  catches 
the  eye  and  wearies  the  mind.  It  is  to  be  noted  that 
fairly  small  patterns,  and  ornament  either  purely  geo- 
metrical in  character  or  else  very  highly  convention- 
alized, are  best  suited  to  repeating  pattern  design, 
whether  in  wall  papers  or  carpets,  and  that  in  the  de- 
gree that  patterns  are  very  large,  markedly  naturalis- 
tic in  rendering,  or  of  a  strikingly  exotic  character — 
as  in  the  Chinoiseries  so  much  the  rage  in  the  last 
quarter  of  the  eighteenth  century  and  so  much  copied 
in  recent  years — they  become  less  well  adapted  to  the 
requirements  of  repeating  ornament  and  less  pleasing 
when  so  used. 

The  number  and  variety  of  colors  that  can  be  effec- 
tively used  in  the  design  of  a  paper  varies  inversely 
with  the  size  of  the  pattern.  In  small  patterns  the 
colors  appear  in  such  minute  areas,  and  so  closely 
juxtaposed,  that  the  eye  feels  no  sense  of  confusion. 
In  large  figures,  on  the  other  hand,  the  number  of 
colors  must  be  narrowly  restricted,  and  the  best  effects 
are  almost  invariably  produced  in  patterns  limited  to 
two  or  three  tones  of  a  single  hue. 

The  esthetic  function  of  the  floor  coverings  is,  in 
general,  to  provide  a  low-toned  and  restful  base  for 
the  decorative  treatment.  It  is  a  mistake  to  assume 
that  the  ideal  floor  covering  is  always  the  plain  rug 
or  carpet.  Plain  carpets  affect  the  mind  precisely  as 

264 


Excellence  in  Design 

do  other  plain  surfaces,  and  they  are  desirable  only 
when  they  concur  in  the  proper  expression  of  the  emo- 
tional character  or  motive  of  the  room  as  a  unit.  The 
ideal  floor  covering,  abstractly  considered,  is  rather 
the  one  which  is  both  low  in  tone  and  broken  in  hue, 
since  such  carpets  yield  the  effect  of  stability  essential 
in  the  base  of  the  room,  and  at  the  same  time  make  it 
possible  to  give  a  subtle  interest  to  the  color  treatment 
by  echoing  in  small  and  broken  masses  on  the  floor  the 
larger  masses  of  more  brilliant  colors  appearing  in 
the  decorative  objects  placed  nearer  eye-height.  On 
the  other  hand,  the  carpet  must  not  in  the  modern  room 
make  an  over-insistent  demand  for  attention.  In  Per- 
sia and  Turkey  there  are  no  pictures  and  but  little  fur- 
niture, and  the  rugs  constitute  the  chief  decoration  of 
the  room.  With  us  the  finest  rug  is  but  one  part  of 
a  much  greater  whole,  and  the  decorator  must  be  care- 
ful to  keep  his  floor  covering,  like  every  other  indi- 
vidual element,  carefully  subordinated  to  the  general 
scheme. 

In  the  design  of  floor  coverings  the  essential  condi- 
tions are  flat  surface  and  uniformity  of  appearance  as 
seen  from  any  point  of  view.  The  first  requirement 
definitely  bars  all  effects  of  perspective  or  relief,  which 
cause  one  or  more  elements  of  the  design  to  seem  to 
be  in  a  higher  plane  than  the  others.  Such  effects  ap- 
pear when  bright  flowers  or  other  ornamental  motives 
are  related  to  a  darker  ground  by  shading,  as  well  as 
in  shaded  self -toned  ornament.  Flatness  of  surface 
is  characteristic  of  all  good  Oriental  rugs,  and  where 
rich  color  effects  are  demanded  in  the  design  of  a 

265 


The  Principles  of  Interior  Decoration 

domestic  rug  or  carpet  this  essential  flatness  can  be 
best  ensured  by  using  colors  in  the  Oriental  manner; 
that  is,  by  defining  flat  masses  of  color  and  relieving 
forms  by  means  of  narrow  outlines  of  other  colors, 
and  by  eliminating  all  effects  of  shading. 

Violations  of  the  second  requirement  are  common, 
even  among  the  finest  domestic  carpets  and  rugs.  They 
result  chiefly  from  the  practice  of  copying  successful 
wall  paper  and  drapery  patterns  in  floor  coverings,  and 
arise  from  failure  to  distinguish  between  the  artistic 
requirements  of  vertical  and  horizontal  surfaces.  Every 
wall  surface  has  a  bottom  and  a  top,  and  vase,  vine, 
flower  and  tree  designs  are,  if  properly  conventional- 
ized, perfectly  appropriate  for  wall  work  because  no 
one  can  see  them  from  the  top.  Floor  coverings,  on  the 
contrary,  must  be  seen  from  every  point  in  the  room, 
and  a  pattern  having  a  pronounced  direction  will 
necessarily  appear  to  be  upside  down  when  seen  from 
one  end  of  the  room. 

In  the  past  fifteen  years  American  manufacturers  of 
floor  coverings  have  made  notable  progress,  both  tech- 
nically and  in  the  character  of  their  designs.  They 
have  not  merely  kept  up  with  improving  general 
taste;  the  best  of  them  have  kept  well  ahead  of  it. 
It  is  safe  to  say  that  nowhere  in  the  world  is  there 
to  be  found  such  an  extraordinary  range  of  good 
fabrics  in  beautiful  and  suitable  designs  as  in  our 
own  shops.  Naturally  the  manufacturers  have  had  to 
meet  the  demand  for  extreme  and  showy  novelties,  and 
even  among  the  finest  fabrics  many  hopelessly  ugly 

266 


Excellence  in  Design 

and  unfitting  designs  will  be  met  with.  However,  no 
one  is  compelled  to  buy  these  things,  and  no  one  can 
blame  either  the  manufacturer  or  the  better  class  of 
dealers  if  his  rooms  are  marred  by  commonplace  and 
unlovely  rugs. 

Where  the  hangings  are  intended  to  have  a  struc- 
tural value,  and  to  give  apparent  support  to  the  walls 
and  ceiling,  they  must  have  ample  fullness  of  material 
and  be  run  to  the  floor.  Ordinarily  they  will  also  have 
a  lambrequin  or  valance.  Full-length  hangings  will 
reveal  the  maximum  effect  of  support  when  they  are 
permitted  just  to  touch  the  floor  or  are,  for  the  sake 
of  cleanliness,  kept  an  inch  or  less  above  it.  The  old 
English  practice,  now  followed  to  a  considerable  ex- 
tent in  America,  of  permitting  the  hangings  to  rest  upon 
the  floor  in  deep  folds,  increases  their  richness,  but 
diminishes  their  structural  value.  Many  rooms  are 
marred  structurally  by  the  use  of  insufficient  material 
in  the  hangings.  It  is  the  depth  and  fullness  of  their 
folds  that  gives  to  draperies  their  richness  and  strength, 
and  always  in  large  rooms,  or  in  any  rooms  where  an 
effect  of  richness  and  dignity  is  aimed  at,  there  must 
be  ample  material.  This  principle  has  always  been 
observed  in  good  decoration,  as  well  as  in  the  art  of 
costume  design.  "Quantity,  or  fullness  of  dress," 
observed  Hogarth  in  the  Analysis  of  Beauty,  "has 
ever  been  a  darling  principle.  .  .  .  The  robes  of  state 
are  always  made  large  and  full,  because  they  give  a 
grandeur  of  appearance  suitable  to  the  offices  of  great- 
est distinction.  .  .  .  The  grandeur  of  the  Eastern 

267 


The  Principles  of  Interior  Decoration 

dress,  which  so  far  surpasses  the  European,  depends 
as  much  on  quantity  as  on  costliness.  In  a  word,  it  is 
quantity  which  adds  greatness  to  grace." 

While  a  lambrequin,  which  seems  to  rest  upon  the 
side   hangings  as   an  architrave   rests  upon   its   sup- 


FIGURE  51. — The  proportions  of  many  windows  make  the  use 
of  hangings  with  lambrequin  or  valance  unfitting.  Frequently  a 
cornice  molding  of  some  kind,  suitably  embellished  and  colored, 
is  used  without  valance. 

porting  columns,  is  in  general  best  adapted  to  the 
requirements  of  structural  emphasis,  this  member  may 
in  the  case  of  low  windows  or  other  architectural 
peculiarities  be  omitted,  and  the  hangings  can  fall 
directly  from  behind  a  well-designed  cornice  board,  as 
shown  in  Figure  51.  It  must  be  noted  that  even  when 

268 


Excellence  in  Design 

a  lambrequin  is  used  it  should  be  capped  and  finished 
by  a  cornice  of  some  kind,  however  narrow.  The 
practice — very  common  in  drapery  workrooms — of 
using  lambrequins  without  this  upper  member  violates 
the  requirements  of  architectural  composition  and  re- 
sults in  the  creation  of  unconvincing  and  ugly  win- 
dows. 

It  is  to  be  noted  that  the  words  lambrequin  and 
valance  are  used  in  this  volume  in  their  common  rather 
than  their  correct  sense,  the  latter  to  designate  a  lam- 
brequin which  is  shirred,  pleated,  or  otherwise  made 
up  to  fall  softly  and  without  stiffness;  the  former  to 
designate  a  lambrequin  mounted  on  buckram  and 
therefore  possessing  a  flat  surface  and  a  sharply- 
defined  outline. 

Owing  to  the  disposition  of  the  mind  to  look  to 
the  top  for  the  meaning  of  things,  the  valance,  lambre- 
quin and  cornice  board  are  sure  to  be  conspicuous,  and 
they  must  therefore  be  carefully  designed.  The  folds 
of  a  valance  yield  an  effect  of  softness  and  a  play  of 
light  and  shade  that  makes  almost  any  texture  pleasing 
and  renders  it  unnecessary  to  pay  much  attention  to 
the  pattern,  though  in  pleated  valances  care  must  be 
taken  to  see  that  a  sharply-marked  part  of  the  pattern 
does  not  appear  more  conspicuously  on  one  fold  than 
on  another.  The  bottom  line  of  a  valance  should  be 
defined  by  a  piping,  gimp,  band  or  fringe,  and  usually 
a  French-pleated  valance  is  made  more  convincing  by 
knotting  a  heavy  cord,  made  to  match  the  cloth  or  to 
contrast  with  it  in  color,  along  the  valance  at  the  points 
where  the  pleats  are  caught  up. 

269 


The  Principles  of  Interior  Decoration 

A  lambrequin  lacks  the  effects  of  soft  folds,  and  it 
must  accordingly  be  made  of  a  pleasing  texture  and 
set  off  by  good  trimmings.  No  inanity  of  decoration 
is  uglier  or  more  useless  from  every  point  of  view 
than  an  ill-designed  lambrequin,  and  none  is  more 
common.  By  its  nature  a  lambrequin  is  structural  in 
character  and  formal  in  effect,  and  there  is  no  excuse 
for  using  one  in  a  low-ceilinged  and  informal  room. 
Lambrequins  can  be  effectively  made  of  figured  fabrics 
only  when  the  pattern  is  symmetrical,  and  so  spaced 
that  it  can  be  followed  roughly  in  shaping  the  bottom 
line  of  the  lambrequin.  Where  the  patterns  of  ma- 
terials to  be  used  for  the  side  hangings  do  not  con- 
form to  these  requirements  it  is  in  general  best  to 
make  the  lambrequin  of  a  plain  material  which  matches 
the  ground  color  of  the  side  hangings ;  as  when  a  plain 
blue  silk  velvet  or  satin,  embroidered  in  dull  gold,  is 
used  with  hangings  of  blue  and  gold  damask.  In  the 
case  of  figured  hangings  having  a  light  ground,  like 
cream  or  pale  gray,  the  lambrequin  is  usually  chosen 
to  match  one  of  the  darker  and  richer  colors  appearing 
in  the  pattern;  if  possible  one  which  also  appears  in 
the  carpet  or  rug. 

The  bottom  line  of  a  valance,  and  particularly  of  a 
lambrequin,  is  conspicuous  in  any  room,  and  it  must 
invariably  be  designed  by  a  competent  designer.  Many 
rooms  are  seriously  marred  by  weak  or  commonplace 
curves,  by  angles  too  acute,  or  by  the  absence  of  a 
dominant  element  in  the  profiles  of  the  draperies.  The 
depth  of  valance  or  lambrequin,  since  these  elements 
possess  a  structural  character,  must  be  proportioned 

270 


Excellence  in  Design 

to  the  length  of  the  side  hangings.  Valances  that  are 
too  short  appear  to  be  trivial  and  inadequate ;  those  too 
long  appear  heavy,  awkward  and  lowering.  While  in 
practice  the  proportions  will  be  altered  slightly  accord- 
ing to  the  architectural  proportions  and  the  motive  of 
the  room,  the  ratio  will  vary  from  1 :  6  to  1 : 8,  with 
the  latter  more  satisfactory  than  the  former  for  rooms 
of  the  lighter  and  more  livable  type. 

Where  undercurtains  are  used  their  proper  func- 
tion is  to  soften  the  glare  of  the  light,  to  ensure  privacy, 
and  to  give  to  the  occupants  of  a  room  the  sense  of 
being  indoors.  Normally  undercurtains  have  no 
structural  value  and  very  little  decorative  value  other 
than  that  of  soft  neutral  color  and  pleasing  texture. 
Curtains  must  never  be  allowed  to  complicate  the 
background  surfaces  or  destroy  the  unity  of  a  room, 
or  to  exalt  themselves  as  ornament  at  the  expense  of 
what  the  windows  reveal  through  the  effect  of  pattern 
too  elaborate  or  too  pronounced.  Whether  pattern  is 
to  be  used  at  all  in  the  curtains  of  a  given  room,  and  if 
so  how  much  and  of  what  character,  are  questions  to 
be  answered  only  after  a  study  of  the  individual  room. 

It  is  obvious  that  curtains  must  be  more  pronounced 
in  pattern  or  more  heavy  in  texture,  or  both,  as  the 
size  and  structural  emphasis  of  the  room  are  increased ; 
that  highly  figured  hangings  require  relatively  plain 
curtains;  and  that  the  more  ornament  there  is  in  the 
other  surfaces  of  the  room,  and  particularly  in  its 
wall  surfaces,  the  less  there  should  be  in  its  window 
curtains. 

Nothing  more  will  be  said  here  concerning  excellence 
271 


The  Principles  of  Interior  Decoration 

in  the  design  of  furniture,  since  the  subject  is  too  broad 
to  be  treated  within  the  limits  imposed  by  the  character 
of  this  study.  In  fact,  both  the  fitness  and  the  beauty 
of  a  piece  of  furniture  are  so  largely  dependent  upon 
beauty  of  line  and  perfect  proportions  that  few  gener- 
alizations can  be  made  on  the  subject.  Finely  and 
fitly  designed  furniture  may  be  seen  in  the  better  shops 
of  every  city  of  importance,  while  illustrations  of  finely 
designed  furniture  are  available  in  a  multitude  of  books 
and  magazines,  and  the  student  will  make  more  rapid 
progress  toward  the  acquisition  of  a  sound  taste  by 
observation  of  examples  than  by  the  study  of  critical 
analyses. 


272 


CHAPTER  XVI 

PERIOD  DECORATION 

IT  will   be  apparent   from  the  preceding  chapters 
that  the  study  of  period  decoration  does  not  lie 
within  the  scope  of  this  essay,  which  is  concerned 
neither  with  individual  nor  epochal  expression  in 
interior   decoration,   but  rather  with  the  basic  prin- 
ciples that  underlie  and  condition  all  expression  in 
that  art. 

Period  decoration  is  in  theory  and  in  practice  an  at- 
tempt to  employ  in  the  decoration  of  present-day 
homes  the  ideals,  forms  and  materials  of  an  earlier  day. 
We  have,  however,  seen  that  interior  decoration  is 
properly  an  art  having  the  distinctly  practical  aim  of 
making  homes  beautiful  and  comfortable  to  live  in; 
that  to  be  beautiful  a  given  house  must  conform  to 
esthetic  laws  derived  from  the  constitution  of  the  mind 
itself,  and  therefore  lying  far  below  all  that  is  changing 
and  ephemeral;  while  to  be  comfortable  it  must  sat- 
isfy a  complex  of  special  needs,  tastes  and  circum- 
stances which  of  necessity  varies  with  each  household, 
and  is  in  fact  as  unique  as  the  complex  of  lines  in  a 
finger-print.  Since  one  of  the  factors  in  every  decora- 
tive problem  is  in  the  nature  of  things  unique,  it  fol- 

273 


The  Principles  of  Interior  Decoration 

lows  that  every  satisfactory  solution  of  such  a  prob- 
lem must  also  be  unique,  and  that  accordingly  a  man 
cannot  live  in  his  neighbor's  house,  or  his  father's  or 
his  grandfather's  house,  and  find  it  in  any  accurate 
sense  both  beautiful  and  comfortable.  How,  therefore, 
can  he  expect  to  live  in  the  homes  of  one  or  two  or 
three  hundred  years  ago? 

Of  course,  no  one  really  does.  The  most  enthusi- 
astic exponent  of  period  decoration  professes  merely 
to  adapt  the  historic  styles  to  present-day  needs,  though 
it  is  to  be  noted  that  in  practice  he  seeks  to  re-create 
the  ideals  of  the  past,  and  to  reproduce  its  rooms  with 
meticulous  fidelity  to  detail.  The  ideal  of  a  return  to 
the  past  is  however  foolish  and  quite  unrealizable. 
We  cannot  return  to  the  past,  either  in  art  or  in  life, 
precisely  because  it  is  the  past.  The  hour  or  the  age 
that  has  been  borne  backward  by  the  stream  of  time 
is  gone,  with  its  own  ideals  and  aspirations,  its  proper 
modes  of  thought  and  action.  It  can  never  be  called 
back  or  re-created  or  re-lived.  Hence  period  decora- 
tion, in  the  degree  that  it  is  fully  and  accurately  real- 
ized, is  mere  pose,  theatrical  and  unreal.  It  is  in  fact 
only  in  the  degree  that  an  historic  style  can  be  so 
modified  in  practice  as  to  adapt  it  to  the  requirements 
of  comfortable  modern  life  that  it  is  properly  of  in- 
terest to  the  decorator  of  to-day.  In  the  degree  that 
it  is  too  archaic,  too  ponderous,  too  sumptuous  or  too 
exotic  for  present-day  homes  it  is  properly  of  academic 
interest  only,  and  the  attempt  to  use  it  in  practice  in 
spite  of  its  manifest  unfitness  can  result  only  in  actual 
ugliness  and  discomfort,  however  great  may  be  the 

274 


Period  Decoration 

effect  of  magnificence  or  the  merely  pictorial  value  of 
the  rooms. 

Much  of  undoubted  value  can  be  learned  through  the 
systematic  study  of  period  decoration  that  can  be 
learned  in  no  other  way,  but  the  time  required  for  such 
a  study  is  prohibitive  for  most  laymen,  while  the  mass 
of  descriptive  and  illustrative  material  essential  to  it 
has  never  been — and  cannot  be — condensed  into  a 
single  volume.  The  student  who  has  the  time  and 
energy  to  go  ahead  with  the  serious  study  of  the  sub- 
ject will  find  an  admirable  literature  in  English  and 
French,  while  several  manuals  are  available  which 
treat  different  phases  of  it  superficially  but  helpfully 
for  the  general  reader. 

In  all  ages  man  has  tried  as  best  he  could  to  make 
his  home  satisfy  his  needs  and  aspirations.  If  we 
take  a  quick  glance  backward  over  such  of  his  at- 
tempts as  have  been  made  in  historical  times  we  will 
see  that  from  time  to  time,  at  a  given  period  and 
among  a  given  people,  architects,  builders,  designers 
and  craftsmen  of  all  sorts  get  into  the  habit  of  doing 
things  in  a  certain  way — of  emphasizing  certain  types 
of  line,  form,  proportions,  ornamental  motives  and 
colorings.  These  ways  will  always  be  seen  to  have 
grown  more  or  less  spontaneously  out  of  the  ideals  and 
customs  of  the  past,  and  to  be  adjusted  more  or  less 
perfectly  to  the  ideals  and  customs  of  the  particular 
period.  And  because  these  ways  of  doing  things  con- 
form to  the  prevailing  social,  economic  and  political 
conditions,  and  express  the  prevailing  social  and  ethi- 
cal ideals,  they  become  general,  then  dominant,  and 

275 


The  Principles  of  Interior  Decoration 

thus  crystallize  into  what  we  call  a  style.  Among 
other  peoples  with  different  ideals  and  needs  other 
styles  become  dominant.  Everywhere  styles  wax  and 
wane  and  are  succeeded  by  new  styles  which  more 
adequately  express  new  ideals  or  meet  changed  con- 
ditions. Infrequently  what  we  call  the  period  styles 
have  expressed  the  needs  and  tastes  of  a  whole  people : 
usually  those  of  the  court  and  the  aristocracy  only. 
Always  they  are  in  a  state  of  flux,  because  they  are 
merely  the  reflection  in  one  medium — as  literature  is 
in  another  medium,  and  historic  costume  in  a  third — 
of  life,  which  is  itself  always  in  a  state  of  flux.  Thus 
each  style  emerges  slowly  from  an  earlier  one,  climbs 
to  the  meridian  of  its  purest  expression,  declines,  de- 
generates and  decays,  following  the  universal  law  of 
life. 

The  civilizations  of  the  ancient  world  made  no  im- 
portant contributions  toward  the  development  of 
the  modern  house.  Neither  did  the  civilization  of 
medieval  Europe,  with  its  feudal  organization  of  so- 
ciety and  its  vast  and  gloomy  castles.  It  was  not  until 
the  Renaissance  that  the  modern  house  and  modern 
methods  of  furnishing  it  began  to  emerge.  From 
the  middle  of  the  fifteenth  century  until  the  end 
of  the  eighteenth — that  is,  from  the  Renaissance 
to  the  French  revolution,  when  the  old  regime  passed, 
and  aristocracy  began  to  yield  place  to  modern 
industrial  democracy — the  tides  of  life  flowed  swiftly 
in  Europe,  and,  as  we  would  expect,  frequent  and 
relatively  rapid  changes  took  place  in  the  manner  of 
building  and  furnishing  houses. 

276 


Period  Decoration 

While  the  Renaissance  began  in  Italy,  it  quickly 
spread  to  the  north  and  west.  In  architecture  and 
decoration  the  Italian  ideas,  forms  and  practice  soon 
reached  France,  and,  half  a  century  later,  we  find  them 
in  England,  where  they  displaced  or  fused  with  the 
Gothic  ideals  and  practice.  They  became  dominant 
in  France  with  the  accession  of  Francois  I  in  1515, 
and  in  England  with  the  accession  of  Elizabeth  in 

1558. 

The  French  styles  developed  smoothly  and  logically, 

that  of  Francois  I  being  followed  by  those  of  Henri 
II,  Louis  XIII,  Louis  XIV,  Louis  XV  and  Louis 
XVI.  After  the  revolution  the  Directoire  and  the 
Empire  styles  were  created,  from  foreign  elements 
chiefly  classical,  by  the  fiat  of  Napoleon.  In  England, 
owing  to  frequent  changes  of  dynasty,  and  to  the  con- 
stant interfusion  of  foreign  ideas  through  political 
and  commercial  causes,  the  styles  changed  rapidly,  be- 
ginning with  the  Elizabethan,  followed  by  the  Jaco- 
bean, the  styles  of  Charles  the  First,  the  Common- 
wealth, Charles  the  Second,  William  and  Mary,  Queen 
Anne,  and  the  Early  Georgian,  and  by  the  late  eight- 
eenth century  Adam  style  and  the  individual  fur- 
niture styles  of  Chippendale,  Hepplewhite  and  Shera- 
ton, and  finally  terminating  in  the  nineteenth  century  in 
the  so-called  Victorian  style. 

During  the  nineteenth  century  decoration,  like  archi- 
tecture, fell  into  a  period  of  decline.  Taste  became 
debased,  craftsmanship  inferior,  and  in  America,  as 
in  Europe,  builders,  manufacturers  and  housefurnish- 
ers  alike  gave  over  all  attempt  at  serious  original  work, 

277 


The  Principles  of  Interior  Decoration 

and  contented  themselves  with  poor  reproductions  and 
poorer  adaptations  of  the  work  of  the  past. 

Some  forty  years  ago  our  wealthier  people  began 
to  want  more  fitting  and  beautiful  homes.  These 
people  had  traveled  in  France,  and  they  turned  natur- 
ally to  France  for  models,  so  that  there  was  a  period 
of  almost  two  decades  in  which  French  ideas  and 
practice  were  dominant  in  the  furnishings  of  important 
American  houses.  Later  the  English  styles  began  to 
be  copied,  and  presently,  almost  over  night,  we  had 
among  us  the  phenomenon  of  period  decoration.  The 
thing  went  farther  than  mere  copying.  Whole  rooms 
— woodwork,  ceiling,  fireplace,  furniture;  everything 
except  the  pregnant  associations  and  the  spiritual 
quality  that  made  them  significant  and  beautiful — 
were  torn  out  of  old  English  houses  and  French  cha- 
teaux and  set  up,  as  in  the  bed  of  Procrustes,  at  what- 
ever cost  of  amputation  or  stretching,  in  the  great 
American  houses. 

Decoration  is  an  art  that  always  works  downward 
— from  the  king,  through  the  aristocracy,  to  the  bour- 
geoisie; from  the  rich,  through  the  well-to-do,  to  the 
poor.  Period  decoration  in  America  took  the  usual 
course.  Those  who  could  afford  to  buy  and  transport 
European  interiors  did  so.  Those  who  could  not  af- 
ford it  bought  European  rugs,  furniture  and  fabrics. 
Those  who  couldn't  afford  these  things  contented  them- 
selves with  cheaper  reproductions  of  European  orig- 
inals. Those  who  couldn't  afford  reproductions  bought 
cheaper  adaptations  of  reproductions.  Once  period 

278 


Courtesy  of  Gill  &  Reigate  Ltd.,  London. 

PLATE  XVI. — The  fire-screen,  which  is  a  very  useful  piece  of 
furniture,  can  be  so  designed  as  to  reveal  any  desired  combination 
of  outline,  texture,  hue,  tone  and  texture,  and  is  therefore  valuable 
in  creating  effects  of  parallelism  in  the  composition  of  the  fire-place 
group. 


Period  Decoration 

decoration  became  vogue,  everybody  went  in  for  it. 
From  that  time  on  our  progress  in  the  reproduction 
of  historic  furnishings  has  been  astonishing.  To-day 
reproductions  of  the  furniture,  fabrics  and  decorative 
accessories  of  every  historic  style  at  all  adapted  to 
the  conditions  of  modern  life  are  offered  in  a  variety 
nothing  less  than  bewildering.  In  the  fever  of  produc- 
tion no  source  has  been  left  unexplored  by  the  manu- 
facturer or  the  importer.  The  decorator  finds  him- 
self the  heir  of  all  the  ages.  People  with  money  to 
spend  can  buy  and  place  in  their  homes  reproductions  or 
adaptations  of  every  decorative  object  or  material 
that  ever  was  on  land  or  sea.  In  fact,  many  of  them  do. 
One  has  only  to  sit  down  with  a  good  manual  of 
period  decoration,  a  history  of  architecture,  a  history 
of  costume  and  a  history  of  society,  and  to  compare 
the  furniture  and  decorative  art  of  a  given  period  with 
its  houses,  its  clothes,  its  literature,  its  social  organiza- 
tion and  its  political,  artistic  and  ethical  ideals  in  order 
to  realize  that  decoration,  historically,  has  always  had 
a  purposive  aim.  All  that  was  vital  in  the  housefur- 
nishing  art  of  any  given  period  was  fitting;  and  all 
that  is  vital  in  it  to-day  is  fitting.  The  rest  is  dross — 
interesting  to  the  student,  to  be  sure,  like  alchemy  or 
the  paintings  of  the  cave-man — but  without  practical 
importance.  It  is  clear  that  we  must  use  historic  fur- 
niture until  our  own  designers  can  give  us  something 
better;  if,  indeed,  the  thing  be  ever  possible.  But  it  is 
no  less  clear  that  anything  used  in  our  homes  should 
fit  our  needs,  and  that  to  copy  slavishly  the  decorative 

279 


The  Principles  of  Interior  Decoration 

practice  of  any  historic  period  is  quite  as  absurd  as  to 
copy  its  clothes,  its  schools  or  its  methods  of  transpor- 
tation. 

It  must  be  admitted,  however,  that  it  is  one  thing  to 
recognize  the  absurdity  of  an  action,  and  another  thing 
to  refrain  from  the  action,  provided  we  think  it  to 
be  the  correct  or  the  smart  thing  to  do.  Just  at  present 
no  one  thinks  it  the  smart  thing  to  have  the  floors  of 
his  rooms  strewn  with  rushes,  though  this  was  the 
usual  method  of  treating  the  floors  of  the  great  houses 
of  Tudor  England,  even  in  the  time  of  Elizabeth.  On 
the  other  hand,  it  is  now  considered  by  many  decorators, 
both  professional  and  laymen,  to  be  the  smart  thing  to 
furnish  a  dining  room  with  a  refectory  table  and 
benches.  Thus  we  find  otherwise  sensible  people  sit- 
ting on  long,  narrow  and  uncomfortable  benches,  and 
crowded  at  either  side  of  a  very  narrow  table  which, 
as  used  historically,  had  diners  on  one  side  only — 
the  side  very  near  a  wall,  which  offered  protection 
against  a  surprise  attack  or  a  sudden  knife-thrust  from 
behind — while  the  other  side  was  kept  free  for  the 
movements  of  the  servitors. 

There  is  one  safe  way,  and  one  only,  to  use  in  the 
homes  of  to-day  the  rich  inheritance  of  the  past.  That 
way  is  to  break  things  down  into  their  essentials;  to 
look  to  the  meanings  of  things,  and  not  to  the  time 
and  place  of  their  origin.  What  is  a  Louis  XV  chair? 
Essentially,  a  composition  of  curved  lines  of  a  peculiar 
type.  Will  it  look  well  in  a  given  drawing  room? 
Assuredly,  if  the  room  contains  in  its  architectural 
treatment  and  its  other  furniture  and  ornament  enough 

280 


Period  Decoration 

lines  of  the  same  characteristic  type  to  ensure  an  easily 
perceptible  degree  of  likeness,  and  if  the  proportions 
of  the  chair  accord  with  those  of  the  room;  but  not 
otherwise.  What  is  a  cinquecento  damask?  Essen- 
tially a  composition  of  outline,  color  and  texture,  and 
as  such  it  is  well  or  ill  adapted  to  our  use  in  the  degree 
that  it  accords  with  the  other  outlines,  colors  and  tex- 
tures dominant  in  the  room  to  be  decorated.  The  es- 
thetic significance  of  a  chair,  a  table  or  a  cabinet  de- 
pends in  part  upon  its  ornament,  but  chiefly  upon  its 
proportions  and  dominant  lines;  and  whenever  the 
proportions  and  dominant  lines  of  chairs  or  tables  or 
cabinets  belonging  to  different  historic  styles  are 
markedly  similar,  and  their  ornamental  detail  not  so 
dissimilar  as  to  destroy  the  necessary  unity  of  the 
treatment,  such  pieces  can  be  used  together  in  a  modern 
room  quite  as  effectively  as  if  they  were  the  products 
of  the  same  style. 

It  is  easy  to  gain  from  the  popular  literature  of 
period  decoration  an  impression  that  the  period  styles 
reveal  a  peculiar  fitness  and  beauty,  and  that  each  pos- 
sesses an  esoteric  significance,  innate  and  beyond  ra- 
tional explanation.  It  is  true  that  each  style  does  re- 
veal a  peculiar  fitness — for  its  own  period;  and  it  is 
also  true  that  the  best  rooms  of  any  period  reveal  a 
peculiar  beauty  because  they  reveal  those  approximate- 
ly perfect  convergences  of  artistic  effect  in  outline, 
proportion,  coloring,  texture  and  ornamental  detail 
which,  though  necessarily  characteristic  of  any  finely 
decorated  room,  are  more  difficult  to  achieve  by  the 
purely  eclectic  method.  As  to  their  esoteric  sig- 

281 


The  Principles  of  Interior  Decoration 

nificance,  the  period  styles  possess  none.  Their 
significance  depends,  as  the  whole  course  of  our  study 
has  served  to  point  out,  upon  their  elements;  that  is, 
upon  outline,  proportions,  coloring  and  texture.  A 
Renaissance  chair  of  the  first  period  reveals  a  fine 
effect  of  virility;  but  so  does  a  Doric  column  or  a 
Kazak  rug,  and  for  the  same  reasons.  The  effect 
of  slender  proportions  and  soft,  yielding  curves  is 
always  the  same,  whether  we  meet  with  them  in  a 
Louis  XV  sofa  or  in  a  Greuze  canvas.  Indeed,  a 
sufficiently  skillful  designer,  though  he  had  never  so 
much  as  heard  of  the  style  of  Louis  XV,  could  create 
a  room  which  would  have  the  emotional  quality  of 
that  style  through  the  employment  by  purely  artistic 
means  of  the  emotional  qualities  of  form  and  color. 
Where  the  architecture  of  a  house  permits  a  general 
adherence  to  a  definite  style,  many  niceties  of  deco- 
rative expression  are  possible  which  are  not  possible 
in  rooms  furnished  in  a  more  eclectic  manner.  On 
the  other  hand,  the  common  practice  of  doing  adjoin- 
ing rooms,  practically  without  reference  to  their 
architecture,  in  different  styles  which  are  so  far  apart 
in  structure  and  in  ornament  as  to  be  not  only  unsym- 
pathetic but  antipathetic,  so  that  one  passes  from  a 
Henri  II  hall  to  a  Georgian  living  room,  an  Italian 
dining  room  or  a  Louis  XVI  music  room,  is  a  deco- 
rative absurdity  which  has  given  a  theatrical  character 
to  many  American  home?,  robbed  them  alike  of  beauty 
and  of  comfort,  and  made  their  owners  unconscious 
contributors  to  the  gayety  of  nations.  The  important 
thing,  and  the  only  thing  that  is  absolutely  essential, 

282 


Period  Decoration 

whether  one  adopts  a  period  style  or  not,  is  to  see 
that  the  furniture  and  other  decorative  materials  in 
the  room  fit  the  room  in  scale,  concur  in  expressing 
its  emotional  purpose  in  proportion,  line  and  color- 
ing, and  harmonize  with  each  other  and  with  the 
whole  by  reason  of  the  repetition  of  like  elements, 
both  in  physical  appearance  and  in  emotional  signifi- 
cance. 

In  matters  of  decorative  practice  we  are  too  much 
concerned  with  names,  which  may  mean  much  or  little. 
We  speak  of  the  style  of  Chippendale,  for  example, 
as  though  it  were  sharply  defined;  whereas  Thomas 
Chippendale  was  a  popular  designer  who  turned  his 
hand  to  anything  that  pleased  him  and  promised  to  be 
profitable,  and  who,  in  addition  to  his  most  charac- 
teristic work,  introduced  an  extreme  type  of  rococo 
ornament  into  England  at  one  period  of  his  career, 
and  created  a  hybrid  Chinese-Chippendale  style  at 
another  period.  Even  the  great  style  of  Louis  XIV 
was  by  no  means  homogeneous,  for  during  the  major 
part  of  the  reign  of  Le  Rai  Soleil,  a  bitter  struggle 
for  ascendancy  raged  between  the  exponents  of  two 
schools  of  architecture.  At  the  present  time  it  is 
particularly  unwise  for  the  layman  to  attach  too  much 
significance  to  the  names  borne  by  many  of  the  so- 
called  period  pieces.  Designers  to-day  use  the  historic 
styles  as  a  thesaurus  from  which  to  draw  whatever 
ideas  happen  to  meet  their  needs  or  please  their  fancy. 
Much  of  the  period  furniture  now  in  use,  especially 
the  dining  room  and  bed  room  furniture,  can  be  iden- 
tified with  the  historic  styles  whose  names  it  bears 

283 


The  Principles  of  Interior  Decoration 

only   through   its   ornamental   detail,   and   then   only 
with  difficulty. 

This  is  just  as  well,  for  out  of  it  will  come  eventu- 
ally a  characteristic  expression  of  our  own  needs  and 
aspirations — a  style  "made  and  moulded  of  things 
past,"  as  every  other  style  has  been;  but  one  that  will 
be  shaped  to  meet  the  peculiar  requirements  of  a 
modern,  cultured  and  democratic  age.  In  the  mean- 
time, we  who  have  homes  to  furnish  will  not  take 
too  seriously  the  claims  of  those  who,  on  the  one 
hand,  urge  the  peculiar  preciousness  and  virtue  of 
the  period  styles,  or  who,  on  the  other,  decry  any 
use  of  those  styles.  Having  analyzed  our  own  needs 
and  fixed  upon  our  own  goal,  we  will  approach  it 
deliberately,  taking  the  beautiful  where  we  have  the 
good  fortune  to  find  it,  and  concerned  only  with  its 
fitness  for  our  use.  And  in  the  degree  that  we  acquire 
the  power  to  read  the  meaning  of  the  house- furnishing 
materials  in  their  elements,  the  ability  so  to  select 
and  arrange  them  that  essential  likenesses  result  in 
unity  and  harmony,  and  the  common  sense  to  see  to  it 
that  comfort  and  suitability  are  not  lost  in  the  search 
for  style,  we  shall  be  able  to  create,  each  for  himself, 
and  out  of  the  materials  within  our  reach,  the  favor- 
able home  environment  which  is  the  chief  end  of  the 
art  of  interior  decoration. 


284 


1 


CHAPTER  XVII 

CONCLUSION 

field  mapped  out  for  exploration  in  this 
volume  has  been  covered,  and  the  work  is 
at  an  end.  It  is  a  work  confessedly  im- 
perfect, and — though  it  aims  at  a  certain 
completeness  in  scope  and  method — confessedly  frag- 
mentary. But  at  any  rate  one  who  has  followed  it 
to  the  end  will  have  gained  a  clear  perception  of  the 
fact  that  the  creation  of  a  beautiful  and  comfortable 
home  environment  is  not  a  matter  of  magic  or  happy 
accident,  but  rather  of  rational  and  essentially  simple 
processes;  and  it  is  hoped  that  he  will  have  gained 
some  knowledge  of  how  to  develop  the  ability  to  take 
due  account  of  individual  needs  and  tastes,  and  to 
proceed  logically  and  assuredly  and  with  the  minimum 
of  costly  experiment  and  disappointment  to  express 
these  needs  and  tastes  artistically  in  the  decoration 
of  houses.  In  the  degree  that  he  acquires  this  power 
he  becomes  a  decorator;  without  it  he  remains,  at 
most,  a  copyist.  A  man's  house  can  be  a  real  home 
only  in  so  far  as  it  fits  his  needs  and  expresses  his 
ideals  and  aspirations.  "That  best  becomes  any  one," 
as  Cicero  observed,  "which  is  most  his  own." 
Beauty  and  comfort  in  the  homes  we  live  in — this 

285 


The  Principles  of  Interior  Decoration 

is  the  ideal  of  interior  decoration,  the  goal  of  all 
planning  and  contrivance  and  house- furnishing  effort, 
the  highest  aim  of  all  study  of  the  art.  To  point  out 
and  emphasize  the  mutual  interrelation  and  inter- 
dependence of  these  two  qualities,  and  to  set  forth 
the  principles  underlying  the  creative  processes 
through  which  they  may  be  achieved,  has  been  the 
primary  aim  of  the  study  just  completed.  Neces- 
sarily this  study  has  been  highly  analytical.  We  have 
been  obliged  to  pick  out  and  to  consider  separately 
elements  which  are  actually  seen  only  as  they  are 
combined  with  other  elements  to  form  wholes,  and 
esthetic  factors  and  forces  of  which  we  normally 
perceive  only  the  resultants.  This  process  is  difficult, 
and  at  the  best  unsatisfactory.  The  art  is  like  a 
two-ply  web,  wherein  general  esthetic  principles  are 
the  warp  threads  that  run  from  one  end  of  the  fabric 
to  the  other,  giving  it  strength  and  continuity,  and 
individual  needs  are  the  weft  threads  that  shoot  across 
and  back,  in  and  out,  binding  the  warp  together  and 
giving  pattern  and  meaning  to  the  whole.  In  the 
process  of  raveling  out  a  thread  or  two  at  a  time  for 
separate  study,  much  of  the  significance  of  the  whole 
mesh  is  lost. 

Nevertheless,  an  analytical  study  is  the  only  one 
that  can  equip  the  decorator  to  solve  his  own  problems. 
The  method  of  description  and  illustration  is  easy, 
and  valuable  suggestively.  But  of  necessity  descrip- 
tion deals,  as  we  have  repeatedly  noted,  with  solutions 
of  other  people's  problems,  not  with  one's  own.  This 
is  not  enough.  The  decorator  must  be  able  to  use 

286 


Conclusion 

form  and  color,  as  the  writer  uses  words,  in  the 
expression  of  any  ideas.  He  must  be  able  to  adapt 
a  decorative  treatment  to  any  given  conditions;  and 
the  ability  to  do  this  can  never  be  acquired  through 
the  study  of  examples  alone,  but  only  through  a 
mastery  of  the  fundamental  principles  of  his  art. 

If  it  be  objected  to  the  general  method  of  this  study 
that  it  is  too  positive,  too  much  given  to  formulas, 
and  too  much  inclined  to  ignore  the  personal  quality 
of  decorative  art  and  the  mysterious  and  intangible 
elements  of  beauty,  the  answer  is  that  the  method  was 
chosen  deliberately.  The  mysterious,  the  personal, 
the  intangible  and  vague  have  been  too  much  exploited 
in  the  literature  of  interior  decoration.  What  the 
beginner  in  the  art  needs  is  a  starting  place  on  the 
ground,  not  up  in  the  air. 

We  must  live  in  houses,  and  we  must  furnish  them, 
in  person  or  by  proxy,  before  we  can  live  in  them. 
We  may  do  this  perfectly,  or  fairly  well,  or  ill.  With 
most  of  us  it  is  not  a  question  of  perfection,  but  of 
relatively  well  or  ill;  not  a  question  of  the  highest 
beauty,  but  of  some  beauty  or  none  at  all.  And  the 
difference  between  relatively  well  and  ill,  and  between 
some  beauty  and  ugliness,  is  a  matter  of  communicable 
and  easily  acquired  knowledge.  To  master  the  gram- 
mar of  decoration  and  the  fundamental  principles  of 
composition;  to  ground  the  mind  in  the  elementary 
facts  of  proportion,  balance,  light  and  shade  and  color 
practice  as  they  are  here  set  forth,  to  learn  enough  of 
ornament  and  of  design  to  recognize  excellence  and 
detect  the  lack  of  it — these  things  are  easy.  Yet  they 

287 


The  Principles  of  Interior  Decoration 

are  enough  to  insure  the  power  to  create  some  measure 
of  beauty  in  the  home,  and  in  the  aggregate  to  go  far 
toward  setting  up  standards  of  artistic  judgment  and 
toward  cultivating  the  faculty  of  taste  upon  which 
excellence  in  decoration  so  largely  depends. 

In  many  of  the  arts  experiment  is  easy  and  inex- 
pensive. The  painter  can  correct  his  drawing  or  his 
coloring  with  no  loss  save  that  of  his  time.  The 
writer  can  blot  and  rewrite  his  line.  But  the  decorator 
must  pay  dearly  for  his  mistakes.  The  selective 
processes  of  his  art  demand  the  use  of  costly  materials, 
which  cannot  be  changed  at  will.  Thus  ugly  and 
unfitting  decoration  is  too  often  permitted  to  remain, 
long  after  its  ugliness  and  unfitness  is  clearly  per- 
ceived and  deeply  deplored,  simply  because  the  cost 
of  alterations  is  prohibitive. 

The  time  to  acquire  wisdom  is  before  one  has  need 
to  use  it;  and  in  decoration,  as  in  most  of  the  arts 
of  life,  the  beginning  of  wisdom  is  compact  and 
workable  knowledge,  logically  organized,  and  consist- 
ing in  clearly  established  principles  and  definable 
general  ideas.  At  the  outset  of  this  study  taste  was 
defined,  somewhat  ponderously,  in  the  language  of 
the  dictionary.  Essentially,  taste  is  simply  an  un- 
erring sense  of  fitness.  A  faculty  developed  by  long 
processes  of  observation,  analysis  and  comparison,  it 
is  after  all  chiefly  a  matter  of  knowledge.  Hence 
success  in  the  complex  but  fascinating  and  most  useful 
art  of  furnishing  houses  is  also  chiefly  a  matter  of 
knowledge.  To  repeat  an  earlier  observation,  vague 
ideals  and  hazy  enthusiasms  for  beauty  and  comfort 

288 


Conclusion 

will  get  us  nowhere  in  the  art.     We  must  not  only 
feel,  but  know. 

"Through  wisdom  is  an  house  builded ;  and  by  understanding  it  is 

established : 

And  by  knowledge  shall  the  chambers  be  filled  with  all  precious 
and  pleasant  riches." 


289 


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